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Express News Service
PATNA: Amid the chatter of a political realignment in Bihar, where ruling partners BJP and JD-U are not on the same page on a range of issues, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is learnt to have decided to skip a meeting called by the Union law minister with chief ministers in New Delhi on Saturday and instead to travel to Purnea to inaugurate the first ethanol production plant in the state.
Nitish’s absence at the Union minister’s meeting is perceived as a display of his anguish over the statement of some BJP leaders about their endeavours to replace him with a leader of the saffron party, which is now in the role of the ‘big brother’ in the state. BJP MLA Vinay Bihari had recently said Nitish should be removed and replaced by a BJP leader as the chief minister.
Sources said state law minister Pramod Kumar will represent Nitish at the meeting in the national capital. The possibility of Bihar’s political contours being redrawn has gained ground after Nitish and RJD leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav exhibited unusual bonhomie at two Iftar parties hosted by their respective parties within a week. The duo on Friday attended another Iftar being hosted by HAM chief and former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi.
Meanwhile, all eyes are on RJD chief Lalu Prasad who is reaching the state capital on Saturday after being released on bail by a Ranchi court in a fodder scam case. “This time he is expected to stay for an extended period in Patna,” RJD spokesperson Mritunjay Tiwari said.
Lalu is arriving at a crucial juncture when the NDA partners are facing a rough weather. Nitish’s Iftar meetings with RJD leaders could also be his ploy to keep the BJP under pressure, said political analyst Pramod Kumar.
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