Nitish Kumar keeps Tejashwi, two RJD ministers away from key meet

Patna: Another incident showcasing the current rocky relations between Bihar’s ruling JD-U and the RJD surfaced on Monday when Chief Minister Nitish Kumar reportedly did not invite his deputy Tejashwi Yadav and two ministers of his party for an official meeting.

The Chief Minister had called a meeting of Agriculture and Cooperatives Departments but Agriculture Minister Kumar Sarwajeet and Cooperatives Minister Surendra Prasad Yadav were not invited.

Nitish Kumar directly directed Cooperatives Secretary Vandana Preyasi and Agriculture Secretary N. Sarvan Kumar to follow the directives.

During the NDA government, the ministers under the BJP quota were present in such meetings. During the Mahagathbandhan government, Tejashwi Yadav was always present in the meetings, and this was probably the first time when he was not invited.

Sources have said that Nitish Kumar is not pleased with RJD top leadership as it has not taken any action against former Minister Sudhakar Singh who used unparliamentary words like Shikhandi, night watchman and beggar for the Chief Minister. Then, party MLA Vijay Kumar Mandal also put a question mark over Nitish Kumar’s ongoing Samadhan Yatra. Besides, Education Minister Chandra Shekhar Yadav made comments against the ‘Ram Charit Manas’ creating furore.

The JD-U believes that RJD leaders are playing into the BJP’s hands to provide undue advantage to it.