Bihar CM Nitish Kumar skips NITI Aayog meeting, 4th such central meeting since July 17 | Patna News

Bihar CM Nitish Kumar (file photo)

PATNA: Bihar CM Nitish Kumar on Sunday skipped the NITI Aayog meeting chaired by PM Narendra Modi in New Delhi. This is the fourth meeting called by the Union government since July 17 that Nitish preferred to stay away from, amid sour relations with ally BJP.
Though there has been no official word on the reason behind Nitish’s absence, sources in the Bihar government said the 71-year old Nitish, who recovered from Covid recently, wants to avoid travel to distant places as a precautionary measure.
Earlier, Nitish kept away from a meeting of CMs called on July 17 over matters concerning the national flag, by Union minister of home affairs Amit Shah. On July 22, Nitish chose not to attend the farewell dinner hosted by PM Modi for outgoing President Ram Nath Kovind. On July 25, he also skipped the swearing-in of the NDA candidate Droupadi Murmu as the President of the country.
Interestingly, Nitish attended two major meetings in the state capital on Sunday. He first attended an industries department event on occasion of the National Handloom Day along with BJP’s deputy CM Tarkishore Prasad and industries minister Syed Shahnawaz Hussain. Large number of handloom operators and other people attended the event held at ‘Samvad’ hall of the CM secretariat.
Later in the evening, Ntish attended another event on the occasion of foundation day of the Bihar Museum in the museum premises. He also inaugurated an exhibition at the museum.
JD(U) national president Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh, who addressed a press conference in the state capital here, however, dismissed queries about Nitish’s absence at the NITI Aayog governing council meeting, with a terse reply, “you should ask the chief minister.”
Coincidentally, Nitish skipping the NITI Aayog meeting comes just a day after his once trusted loyalist and former JD(U) president Ramchandra Prasad Singh, commonly known as RCP, resigned from the party after the JD(U) asked him to reply on the charges of acquiring huge number of plots of land by his family members.