Modi out, Bihar CM will flag off Advani rath yatra

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar has accepted the BJP’s invite to flag-off L K Advani’s yatra against graft and for good governance, but only on being assured that his Gujarat counterpart Narendra Modi with whom he’s loath to share platform was not among the invitees. Vinod Sharma reports.

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar has accepted the BJP’s invite to flag-off L K Advani’s yatra against graft and for good governance, but only on being assured that his Gujarat counterpart Narendra Modi with whom he’s loath to share platform was not among the invitees.

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BJP president Nitin Gadkari assured Nitish while extending the invitation telephonically that besides him only Leaders of Opposition in the two Houses of Parliament—Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley—will be present to wish Advani a bon voyage.

“The yatra is against corruption and being undertaken from Jayaprakash Narayan’s native village. My presence there will also afford an opportunity to showcase the work we have done in the state,” the Bihar CM told HT over telephone from Patna on Saturday.

Nitish had himself visited JP’s Sitab Diara village in Saran district last year. “JP’s cousins still live there. Residents told me about frequent power outages in the village where I’d be opening a power service station on this visit,” the CM said.

The JD (U) leader has his own plans to tour all the thirty eight districts of Bihar and stay there from three-five days each, depending on the size of the area, to study implementation of various schemes, especially infrastructure development and the recently passed Right to Service Act.

These yatras will start in November and continue well into next year as part of his government’s agenda of bringing in good governance.