By IANS,
Patna: With the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) set to meet in New Delhi to decide its future with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, BJP ministers are likely to boycott a cabinet meeting here Tuesday.
A day after the BJP said its alliance with the Janata Dal-United (JD-U) was intact, the BJP ministers in Bihar are still fuming over Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s decision to return the money given by Gujarat to battle the 2008 floods in the state.
A senior BJP leader told IANS: “Our ministers have decided to boycott the cabinet meeting.”
If the BJP ministers keep away from the Tuesday evening cabinet meeting, it can only further intensify the war of words between the two allies that rule Bihar. Bihar will see assembly elections this year.
BJP sources said that Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi, Health Minister Nand Kishore Yadav and Public Health Engineering Department Minister Ashwani Kumar Chaubey will be in New Delhi Tuesday to attend the party’s core committee meeting to discuss the BJP-JD-U rift.
In the last two days, some BJP leaders, including Road Minister Prem Kumar and Cooperatives Minister Griraj Singh, have openly questioned Nitish Kumar’s decision to return the Gujarat money.
BJP legislator Rameshwar Chowrasia has said the people of Bihar would not pardon Nitish Kumar.
The differences between Nitish Kumar and the BJP began June 12 when he expressed displeasure over newspaper advertisements featuring him and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and the latter referred to the aid provided by Gujarat during the 2008 floods.