Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who skipped a luncheon meet of opposition parties on Friday, is likely to be present at the lunch Prime Minister Narendra Modi is hosting on Saturday for visiting Mauritius Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth.
Sharad Yadav and K.C. Tyagi represented JD(U) at the lunch hosted by Congress chief Sonia Gandhi where Kumar, who is the party president, was conspicuous by his absence.
There has been speculation about a tie-up between JD(U) and the BJP, something Kumar has repeatedly refuted. JD(U) had broken its 17-year alliance with the BJP in 2013 after Narendra Modi was declared the saffron party's prime ministerial candidate.
Such conjecture has grown following the Supreme Court's decision to try RJD chief Lalu Prasad in four fodder scam cases and fresh allegations of corruption against him and his family members.
Kumar heads the JD(U)-RJD-Congress coalition government in Bihar. The chief minister has maintained a silence on the allegations against the RJD supremo and his kin, merely saying it was for the central government to look into them.
During a recent visit to Delhi he had reportedly stressed on a larger opposition unity against the BJP-led NDA. He had also met Gandhi.
Sources close to Kumar have often rubbished reports about any bonhomie between him and the BJP.
Downplays speculations
Kumar downplayed speculation about his skipping the luncheon meeting hosted by Sonia Gandhi and accepting an invite of the PM, terming it as 'misinterpretation'.
"It's all nothing but misinterpretation," Kumar told reporters asking them not to read too much into it.
Kumar said, "There is nothing about going or not going. I had told Ahmed Patel about this four-five days back itself when he had called me to invite JD(U) for the meeting over lunch".
"The invitation was given to JD(U) and Sharad Yadav attended it as party representative," he said emerging from a meeting of the state cabinet.
On joining PM's lunch tomorrow, Kumar said he accepted the invitation as the chief minister of Bihar.
"Mauritius has sentimental links with Bihar for a long time. More than 52 per cent of population of Mauritius today has its origin in Bihar," Kumar said.
"Both past and present PM of Mauritius have roots in Bihar," he said.
The Bihar CM said that after the lunch he would sit with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and discuss about river Ganga.
