Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on June 5 stated that he was insistent upon “heads” of respective events attending the Opposition assembly, which was scheduled on June 12, however has been postponed.
Talking to reporters on the sidelines of a operate in Patna, the JD(U) Supreme Leader stated {that a} new date for the a lot talked about assembly can be introduced after session with all events.
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“We had to put off the June 12 meeting after the Congress and another party conveyed to me that they found the date inconvenient. I have therefore decided to postpone the meet and asked the Congress to suggest a new date after consultation with other parties.
“But I have made one thing very clear. All parties which agree to attend the meeting, must be represented by their respective heads,” Mr. Kumar stated.
“If any party insisted that it be represented by someone else, that would not be acceptable,” he stated.
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“For example, there was an impression that the Congress may send someone else other than its president. This was something we could not accept,” added Mr. Kumar, who has, since his exit from the NDA final yr, launched into a drive to convey collectively all events against the BJP forward of the Lok Sabha polls subsequent yr.
Last week, State Congress president Akhilesh Prasad Singh had stated that his get together was planning to ship “one Chief Minister and another senior leader” for the assembly.
This had evoked taunts from the BJP, now in Opposition in Bihar, which claimed neither Rahul Gandhi, who’s overseas, nor Mallikarjun Kharge, the Congress president, was assigning a lot significance to the initiative of Mr. Kumar, regardless of being his ally within the State. The thought of a gathering of Opposition events in Patna was first mooted by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee at a press convention she addressed collectively with Mr. Kumar in April.
Accompanied by his Deputy Tejashwi Yadav, Mr. Kumar had visited Kolkata to satisfy the TMC chief who exhorted him to hold ahead the legacy of Jayaprakash Narayan, referring to the socialist chief’s revolt towards the Indira Gandhi Government earlier than and throughout the Emergency.
Mr. Kumar, who had served because the Railway Minister within the authorities headed by late Atal Bihari Vajpayee, was additionally requested in regards to the Balasore prepare crash which has killed near 300 individuals.
“It is tragic and though I do not like to comment much on such mishaps, I cannot help saying that this government’s moves like scrapping a separate rail budget betray its skewed priorities”, stated Mr. Kumar, who has for lengthy been demanding that the system of a separate rail price range be restored.
“Railways are the most popular means of transport in the country. The masses use it. But I wonder whether this government wants to make the railways a relic of the past, worthy of being kept in museums,” remarked Mr. Kumar.
He additionally spoke at size about his resignation as Railway Minister upon a significant prepare accident in Gaisal, West Bengal, in 1999, which “respected Vajpayee ji was not ready to accept, but relented only after I remained adamant”.
The resignation was tendered by Mr. Kumar within the thick of Lok Sabha elections and he recalled with satisfaction that when Vajpayee fashioned a brand new authorities and he was again as Railway Minister “all my recommendations with regard to modernisation were accepted and implemented”.
“I did so much even for the state of the current Prime Minister. But he does not like to remember these things,” stated Mr. Kumar, obliquely referring to Narendra Modi’s tenure because the Chief Minister of Gujarat.
Source: www.thehindu.com