Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on Saturday dismissed the speculation over his visit to former CM Rabri Devi's house a day before for an Iftar party. This was the first visit by the 71-year-old JDU leader in five years to the first family of the RJD, once an ally. "Many people are invited to such Iftar parties. What connection does it have with politics? We also hold an Iftar party and invite everyone to it," the chief minister was quoted as telling reporters by news agency ANI, rubbishing the speculation over a mesaage being sent to coalition partner BJP with the visit.
Nitish Kumar was photographed with Rabri Devi and sons Tejashwi and Tej Pratap Yadav at the celebration where he stayed for around 20 minutes. The visit came hours after Lalu Yadav was given bail by a Jharkhand high court in one of the corruption cases.
While Lalu's younger son, Tejashwi, also slammed the buzz over political links to the event; the elder son, Tej Pratap, had something more to say.
"This is politics and chaos is usual... Today he is in power, tomorrow there could be a change. Earlier, I had put a 'no entry' board. But now it has been replaced with 'Entry - Nitish Chacha ji.' Now he has come," Tej Pratap Yadav told news agency ANI.
"We will form a government and the game will unfold. This is a secret... had secret talks with Nitish Ji," he added.
However, Lalu Yadav's family insisted that others, including the BJP's Shehnawan Hussain and the LJP's Chirag Paswan, were also among the invitees. “We have given invitations to all the people whether it is from BJP, JDU or LJP and it has been a tradition that everyone participates in the Iftar party," leader of opposition in the state assembly, Tejashwi, said on Friday.
{{/usCountry}}However, Lalu Yadav's family insisted that others, including the BJP's Shehnawan Hussain and the LJP's Chirag Paswan, were also among the invitees. “We have given invitations to all the people whether it is from BJP, JDU or LJP and it has been a tradition that everyone participates in the Iftar party," leader of opposition in the state assembly, Tejashwi, said on Friday.
{{/usCountry}}The Bharatiya Janata Party is the dominant partner in the NDA alliance in Bihar after it won 74 seats in the 2020 assembly polls against Kumar's Janata Dal United which could win only 43 seats.
(With inputs from ANI)