Nitish Kumar not to campaign for JD(U) in Gujarat polls

[1]

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Friday said he would not go to Gujarat to campaign for JD(U)
for coming assembly elections there due to his 'excessive engagements'.

Kumar said he had canvassed for JD(U) in Gujarat in 2007 but would not be able to make it for the campaigning for the December polls.

"I am busy with Adhikar rally in Patna on November 4 and I have to go to Pakistan on a goodwill visit for a week in the first week of November," he told reporters after a state cabinet meeting here.

Besides, he said he has to prepare an annual report card on the performance of his government in the past one year for submission before the people of the state in November-end as he has been doing every year since coming to power in 2005.

The winter session of the state assembly is also scheduled to begin from November 29, he said explaining the reasons for not going to Gujarat for campaigning.

JD(U), a long-time partner of BJP in NDA, is fighting separately in around 30 seats in Gujarat. The party had won one seat last time in the bastion of Narendra Modi whom he has criticised on many occasions for communal riots in that state in 2002.

On charges levelled against BJP President Nitin Gadkari of dubious funding of companies owned by him, Kumar said "it is an internal matter of BJP and that party will take an appropriate decision. Gadkari himself has asked for a probe into the issue to unravel the truth."

In reply to a question related to Robert Vadra, the senior JD(U) leader said the same law should be applied to everybody.

"This is a national-level issue - I talk only what is concerned with the state," he added.

To a question on his forthcoming tour to Pakistan, the Bihar chief minister said it is a goodwill visit and there is no commercial angle to it.

Kumar will be leading a 12-member delegation of parliamentarians and officials of the state to the
neighbouring country from November 9-16 at the invitation of chief ministers of Punjab and Sind.

He said Pakistan High Commissioner in India Salman Bashir had met him yesterday here in connection with the visit. "I will be visiting Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi among others. The delegation would also visit historical sites of Mohenjodaro and Takshila."

The Bihar CM said he has come to know that people in Pakistan are inquisitive about recent developments in Bihar and want to know about its 'turnaround'. "I will talk in detail on the subject on the subject during interaction with peoples there."

Replying to a question on the demand for construction of Ram Mandir at Ayodhya, Kumar said he and his party JD(U)'s view on the issue is that the matter should be resolved either through mutual talks or thorugh the court.

Earlier, the state cabinet at a meeting presided over by Kumar decided to call the winter session of the state assembly from November 29 to December 5.