Bihar CM Nitish Kumar skips Niti Aayog meeting while TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu attends

'This is not the first time that the CM is not attending the Nitish Aayog meeting. The CM did not attend the meeting earlier as well, and Bihar was represented by the then deputy CM. This time also both the Dy CMs went to attend the meeting,' as per JD(U) spokesperson Neeraj Kumar.

New Delhi: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's conspicuous absence was noticed at the NITI Aayog meeting here on Saturday. Instead, the Bihar CM chaired a meeting of JD(U) leaders at his Patna residence about the Jharkhand elections.

The other prominent NDA ally, TDP’s N Chandrababu Naidu, who is Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, attended the meeting, however.

Nitish and even other JD(U) leaders gave no reasons for his absence from the first meeting of the NITI Aayog after the Lok Sabha election and after the Union Budget 2024, which did not announce special category status for Bihar but gave generous allocations for various projects.

NITI Aayog CEO BVR Subrahmanyam said Nitish could not attend the meeting as he was busy with an assembly session in the state. Puducherry Chief Minister N Rangaswamy was the second NDA Chief Minister to skip the NITI Aayog meeting, which was boycotted by eight I.N.D.I.A. chief ministers.

Bihar was represented at the meeting by Deputy Chief Ministers Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha.

"This is not the first time that the CM did not attend the NITI Aayog meeting. The CM did not attend the meeting earlier as well, and Bihar was represented by the then deputy CM. This time also both the Dy CMs went to attend the meeting," JD(U) spokesperson Neeraj Kumar was quoted by PTI as saying.

He also said there are four Union ministers from Bihar who are members of the NITI Aayog.

In Patna, Nitish chaired a meeting of JD(U) at his official residence, which was attended by JD(U) working president Sanjay Kumar Jha among others. After the meeting, JD(U) leaders said they wanted to contest the Assembly elections in neighbouring Jharkhand in alliance with the BJP.

Assembly polls in Jharkhand are due at the end of this year.