Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar will stay in Delhi for three days but will not meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It is not a big deal for a Chief Minister to come to Delhi and not meet the Prime Minister. But usually the Chief Minister who is new or takes oath again meets the Chief Minister in his first visit to Delhi. Nitish left the BJP and aligned with the RJD and formed a joint government of JDU, RJD and Congress. He took oath as the Chief Minister again on August 9 and is visiting Delhi for the first time after that. Therefore, he should have had a courtesy meeting with the Prime Minister. But he will meet everyone except the Prime Minister.
In the past, when West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, the BJP’s staunch opponent, had come to Delhi, she also met the Prime Minister. But Nitish Kumar, who was a BJP ally for decades, will not meet the Prime Minister. Nitish Kumar’s program is also to meet President Draupadi Murmu and Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar amid mail meeting with the leaders of the opposition. This will be Nitish’s first meeting after both of them were elected to the highest post. Informed sources in JDU say that like the Chief Ministers of other states of the country, Nitish will not meet the Prime Minister or the Union Home Minister. He will not even meet any other Union Minister in Delhi. If you have to talk to the central ministers about the state’s schemes and funds etc., then the ministers or officers of their government will talk. If Nitish has opened a front, he will fight a one-on-one battle and will show this fight at every level.
