Sushil Modi on Nitish Kumar explaining why he skipped opposition presser: ‘We know him’
According to reports, Nitish Kumar was not convinced that INDIA was the best name for the opposition front and had suggested alternatives.
Bharatiya Janata Party leader Sushil Kumar Modi on Wednesday dismissed Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar's clarification on why the latter did not attend the press conference of opposition leaders in Bengaluru on Tuesday.
Addressing a public meeting in Rajgir, the chief minister had explained why he returned to Patna soon after the meeting. “I had attended the opposition parties meeting in Bengaluru. People are asking why I did not attend the press conference. All my suggestions were accepted. I wanted to come to Rajgir. All of us are united”.
Rejecting Kumar's clarification, Sushil Modi, who served as his deputy in the then BJP-JDU coalition government in the past, told ANI,"Rajgir is just an excuse...We know him for a long time. He was angry and this is why he did not attend the press conference".
Earlier in the day, Janata Dal (United) president Rajiv Ranjan alias Lalan Singh had rejected speculations about Nitish Kumar returning to Patna without attending the opposition leaders' presser in Bengaluru because he was upset with some of the decisions taken there. “The man who initiated the exercise for uniting opposition cannot be upset over small things", he said.
According to reports, Nitish Kumar was not convinced that INDIA, which stands for Indian National Development Inclusive Alliance, was the best name for the opposition front and had suggested some alternative names. But he eventually went with the majority view but returned to Patna along with Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad and his son Tejashwi Yadav without attending the presser.
Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala, too denied reports of the Bihar chief minister being upset with the alliance name. “I would not even like to repeat the kind of bad language the BJP uses about Nitish Babu. Now they are talking nonsense. We are all united. No matter how hard the BJP and Modi ji try to create a rift in Team India, they will not succeed”, he was quoted by PTI as saying.