Patna: Citing that there is no photo evidence of the meeting between Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, RJD supremo Lalu Yadav and the Congress interim President Sonia Gandhi that was held on Sunday, the BJP leaders in the state have raised doubts if the meeting has actually happened. “There are no photos of the meeting. We are surprised that Sonia Ji allowed only 15-20 minutes of time for veteran leaders of Bihar. How can we be sure that the meeting has actually happened? It seems they have returned after waiting for a while waiting in Gandhi's drawing room,” BJP spokesperson Nikhil Anand said while speaking to ETV Bharat.
The firebrand leader of BJP and Union Minister, Giriraj Singh went one step further, claiming that Nitish was shown the door in Delhi when he had gone to meet Sonia Gandhi. “I have heard that Sonia Gandhi showed the door to Paltu Ram (turncoat),” Giriraj Singh said in a tweet posted from his official Twitter handle.
Meanwhile, former deputy chief minister and Rajya Sabha member of the BJP Sushil Kumar Modi claimed that Sonia has clarified her stance on the matter by sparing just 20 minutes for the meeting. “Congress supremo Sonia Gandhi must have insulted RJD chief Lalu Prasad and Chief Minister Nitish so badly that both of them must have understood their position in national politics. To cover up the embarrassment, both Lalu-Nitish released their pictures, shaking hands in the air. Sonia Gandhi finished the meeting in just 20 minutes and threw them out of the room. She did not take photographs with them, nor did she consider them worth dropping to the door,” Sushil Modi said in the press statement released today.
Modi further said, “If Sonia supported Nitish's stand, the Congress would not have continued their Bharat Jodo Yatra which is being led by Rahul Gandhi. Out of 17 leaders, only 5 turned up at the Fatehabad rally in Haryana. Sonia insulting Lalu-Nitish and not accompanying them to the door while leaving proves that there will be a lot of 'PM material' in the 2024 parliamentary elections.”
Also read: Lalu, Nitish meet Sonia; say focus on uniting opposition parties to defeat BJP
Commenting on Sushil Modi's critical statements, Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee member and spokesperson of the party Kuntal Krishna said, “Lalu Ji and Nitish Kumar are both senior leaders and they were there to meet Sonia Gandhi. It was a strategic meeting and a photo op of this meeting was not at all needed. Anyhow, BJP will not be able to understand this as BJP is in the era of politics where they are totally dependent on the photo op, teleprompter, morphed photos, and propaganda.”
Before meeting Sonia, both leaders had claimed that they would be meeting to discuss the alliance of the opposition parties ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha poll, in line with Nitish Kumar's efforts since he left the BJP last month.
In a bid to unite the opposition, a rally was also planned on September 25 in Fatehabad on the occasion of the birth anniversary of former deputy prime minister Chaudhary Devi Lal. However, except Nitish, no other chief minister from the opposition had turned up. After meeting Sonia Gandhi, the Bihar CM stated that further talks about uniting the opposition will be held post-Congress president elections as the matter was due in process. Nitish did not speak to the media in Patna after returning from Delhi today.
