No politics behind skipping PM Modi's meeting: Bihar CM Nitish Kumar

PATNA: Facing charges of deliberately skipping the meetings of Prime Minister Narendra Modi after snapping ties with the BJP, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar on Wednesday said there is nothing unusual if deputy chief minister Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, instead of him (the CM), would attend the National Ganga Council meeting, scheduled to be chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Kolkata on December 30.
He said even last time the then deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi had attended the National Ganga council meeting which was in Uttar Pradesh and chaired by PM Modi.
When asked that questions were being raised over Bihar CM skipping the National Ganga Council’s meeting, Nitish shot back, “Are you people not aware who (from Bihar) had gone in the last meeting? .... Last time, we had sent our then deputy CM Sushil Modi. Sushil Modi was then the minister of urban development department which looks after Namami Gange project. This time, the urban development department is with our deputy CM Tejashwi. Hence, I requested him to go to attend the PM’s meeting. Last time, Sushil Modi was heading the department, so he was sent.``
When it was pointed out that it was Sushil Modi who raised the question over the CM skipping the PM’s meeting, Nitish asked, “Why did he not raise the same issue last time when he went to attend the PM’s meeting in Uttar Pradesh?” The last meeting of the council was held in Kanpur in December 2019.
Responding to media queries after paying floral tributes before the life-size statue of former Union minister Arun Jaitley on his birth anniversary here, Nitish also rubbished the BJP leaders’ allegation of deliberately skipping the PM’s meeting. “I attended and expressed my views in those meetings (chaired by PM) which were held in Delhi,” Nitish said.
The CM also said that Tejashwi would attend the council meeting in Kolkata and raise the Bihar government’s interest in the meeting. “We held a meeting over the issues related to Ganga in 2017 in Patna and later also in Delhi. We have been informing the Centre from time to time as to what the Bihar government wants. Tejashwi will discuss all those issues in the meeting before the PM,” Nitish said.
The Bihar CM had also not attended the Eastern Zonal Council meeting chaired by Union home minister Amit Shah in Kolkata on December 17. Tejashwi Yadav and state’s finance minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary had represented Bihar at the EZC meeting.
On being asked about the CBI’s reported move to re-open a closed investigation against the RJD boss Lalu Prasad in the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) scam, allegedly involving Tejashwi Yadav, Nitish said, “Just you think what is happening. All such things are happening mainly because we have (JDU and RJD) come together again in Bihar.”