New Delhi:
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Samajwadi Party boss Akhilesh Yadav will both skip Wednesday’s INDIA bloc meeting, sources told NDTV this morning. The Janata Dal (United) leader and Mr Yadav, a former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, become the second and third high-profile leaders to skip the meet called by the Congress, underlining the growing chasm in the group that was meant to unite the opposition ahead of next year’s Lok Sabha election.
Sources said Nitish Kumar had conveyed his decision to Mallikarjun Kharge, when the Congress chief called to invite him, and that JDU boss Rajiv Ranjan and senior leader Sanjay Jha will attend instead.
However, the other half of the Bihar government – the Rashtriya Janata Dal – is likely to be represented by its top leader – party patriarch Lalu Prasad Yadav and his son Tejashwi Yadav, who is the Bihar Deputy Chief Minister.
Akhilesh Yadav, meanwhile, is expected to send Ramgopal Yadav, his uncle, to attend the meeting, sources said. Mr Yadav – who has squabbled with the Congress repeatedly in the past months, triggering talk the bloc will split – reportedly wants a personal invite from top Congress leaders.
On Monday, Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said she would not attend either; the fiery Trinamool leader, who also has a tense relationship with the Congress, said she had not been made “aware” of the meeting and had prior commitments in northern Bengal on the day.
“I am not aware about this (meeting). I have already scheduled a programme in north Bengal. I have a seven-day programme there. Had I known, would I have kept this programme? I would have surely gone for it. But because we have no information, I am going for the north Bengal tour,” she said.
In Ms Banerjee’s case, sources said the entire party may skip the meeting – a move, if true, that will be seen as a sharp signal of discontent within INDIA’s ranks exacerbated by the Congress’ dismal defeats in Sunday’s Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh Assembly elections.
