Zeliang not to attend Nitish’s swearing

NEW DELHI- SP Chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav during a press conference regarding JD(U)-RJD alliance for Bihar elections, where Nitish Kumar was named as the chief ministerial candidate from their alliance, Janata Parivar for the upcoming Bihar elections.

Earlier, Nitish Kumar had invited veteran BJP leader L.K. Advani and BJP Lok Sabha member Shatrughan Sinha to the ceremony.

There will also be former chief ministers Omar Abdullah (Jammu and Kashmir), Sheila Dikshit (Delhi), Bhupinder Hooda (Haryana), Shankarsinh Vaghela (Gujarat), Babulal Marandi and Hemant Soren (Jharkhand) and Ajit Jogi (Chhattisgarh).

The swearing-in ceremony of Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on Friday may well showcase the emerging anti-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) political formation.

RJD leader Manoj Jha also supported Sinha’s statement and said the BJP is not serious about doing anything substantial as far as identifying the reasons for the dismal show in Bihar.

Instead, parliamentary affairs minister M. Venkaiah Naidu, along with skill development minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy, will represent the central government in Patna.

Lalu Prasad and JD-U president Sharad Yadav will be the main guests. They are Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah, Assam CM Tarun Gogoi, Sikkim CM P K Chamling, Manipur CM O Ibobi Singh and Arunachal Pradesh CM Nabam Tuki. Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray himself was invited by Mr Kumar but he has expressed his inability to attend the ceremony. Also, written invitation from the former’s office received on Tuesday.

The swearing-in could also serve as an occasion for a “patch up” with Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav most likely to attend Nitish’s swearing in – UP CM Akhilesh Yadav has already confirmed his participation.

“I did get an invitation from Nitish Kumar”. But JD(U) general secretary KC Tyagi said there was no need to see politics in the oath ceremony.

All arrangements have been made for the function at the Gandhi Maidan at 2 PM, Patna Divisional Commissioner Anand Kishore, who is supervising the arrangements, said. Inviting guests at a function was part of healthy political etiquette.

Patna Senior Superintendent of Police Vikash Vaibhav today supervised the security drill to escort VVIPs from Airport to the Gandhi Maidan.