SuMo accuses NiKu of misleading people on Pranab’s visit

Patna,(BiharTimes): Former deputy chief minister and senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi on Tuesday accused Chief Minister Nitish Kumar of misleading the people on finalization of the date of President Pranab Mukherjee’s visit to Bihar.

He said BJP had finalised the date of the Hunkar Rally way back on March 20 last and the chief minister was fully aware of it.

Earlier, the rally was to be held in April 2013.

In a statement Modi said Nitish was duty-bound to apprise President Pranab Mukherjee of the scheduled political event during his visit to Patna.

Nitish had said on Monday that the schedule was finalised by Rashtrapati Bhawan in late July and anyone who had problem should approach it rather than blame the Bihar government.

Smelling a conspiracy by the chief minister to sabotage Hunkar Rally SuMo alleged that the venue of IIT-Patna convocation near Gandhi Maidan on October 26 was deliberately chosen to obstruct the movement of those attending the rally a day later.

However, Nitish had on Monday said that his government has nothing to do with IIT programme nor with the unveiling of the statue of late Jagjiwan Ram in Bhojpur district a day later. In fact it was the programme of Union Social Justice Ministry, he added.

Interestingly, SuMo and other BJP leaders have not said a single word against the Congress party in this regard. Modi, it needs to be recalled, had a good relationship with Pranab, when he was the Union Finance Minister. Sushil Modi, as the Finance Minister of Bihar, was made the chairman of the Goods and Service Tax (GST) panel.

BJP national vice president, Dr C P Thakur hoped that Pranab Mukherjee would defer his programme. He said that a BJP delegation should meet the president after his return from a foreign tour and apprise him about his Bihar visit coinciding with the Hunkar rally and request him to defer it.

At present the President is in Turkey.