JD(U) invites BJP for feast, Congress seeks explanation
The invitation is the first since both the parties ended their almost two-decade alliance in 2013.
Patna: Resentment within Grand Secular Alliance surfaced on Saturday after Congress hinted that the party is not pleased with the alliance partner JD(U) sending an invitation to the Opposition BJP for the Makar Sankranti feast.
The Congress, which is one of the constituents in the grand secular alliance government in Bihar, on Saturday asked the JD(U) to explain why the BJP has suddenly become “sacrosanct” for them.
“The JD (U) didn’t invite the BJP for two years but we fail to understand the sudden change of mind,” Congress state president Ashok Chaudhary said, adding that he may not attend the feast due to “personal reasons”. “I have been invited but I have not decided whether I will attend the JD (U)’s feast as I will be in Siwan,” Mr Chaudhary said.
The statement from Congress has brought to fore the growing mutual suspicion between the alliance partners in Bihar. The BJP has been invited for Makar Sankranti lunch on Sunday. The invitation is the first since both the parties ended their almost two-decade alliance in 2013.
BJP leaders, who are said to have received a go-ahead from New Delhi, said, “there is no political meaning to it”. BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi said, “If JD(U) doesn’t cancel the invitation at the last minute I will attend. They once cancelled the dinner invitation at the last minute”.