Nitish's 'no' to Sonia invite sets tongue wagging

Janata Dal (United) president and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar won’t attend the meeting of non-NDA parties convened by Congress president Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi on Friday.

Sources in the ruling camp said that Sonia’s close aide Ahmed Patel had made a telephone call to Nitish requesting him to attend the crucial meeting convened for talks on the likely Opposition candidate for the presidential poll. However, Nitish politely turned down the request citing prior engagements and said a representative from the JD (U) will attend the meet slated for May 26.

Nitish’s ‘no’ to Sonia invite to set the tongues wagging as it was the Bihar Chief Minister who last month met Congress president in New Delhi and mooted the idea that her party, being the largest outfit, should lead the non-BJP front in its fight against the NDA. This, Nitish suggested, should start with a united Opposition fielding a common candidate for the presidential polls, slated for July this year.

It was against this backdrop that Sonia convened a meeting on Friday (May 26) and invited all the non-NDA parties, including Trinamool and the CPM.

“Her political secretary Ahmed Patel had urged Nitish ji to attend the meeting. But besides being the JD (U) president, Nitish Kumar is Bihar CM too and has prior engagements. He has authorised JD (U) Parliamentary Party leader Sharad Yadav to attend the meeting,” said Neeraj Kumar, the JD (U) spokesperson, here on Thursday.

The BJP was quick to take a jibe at the ‘crumbling citadel’ of Opposition unity. “The more the non-NDA parties try to unite, the more they appear divided. Nitish knows well that the Opposition does not have the numbers to pose a challenge during presidential polls, so he does not want to burn his fingers. He is so conscious about his image that he would rather wait and watch before the so-called ‘unity’ takes proper shape. After all, he has bitter experience of efforts made to unite Janata Parivar in 2015,” averred senior BJP legislator Nand Kishore Yadav, who was Cabinet Minister in Nitish regime when JD (U) and BJP were alliance partners in Bihar.

However, former Rajya Sabha MP Shivanand Tiwary, who has worked closely with both Nitish and Lalu, said that not much should be read into Nitish’s response to Sonia’s invitation. “Nitish Ji has in fact given due respect to Sharad Yadav, who is former party president and quite senior Socialist leader, to represent him on behalf of the JD (U) at the meeting convened by Soniaji. The Opposition is completely united in its fight against the BJP-led fascist forces,” Tiwary told Deccan Herald here on Thursday.