Patna:Â Shatrughan Sinha, MP and senior BJP leader, on Sunday said that there was no political angle to his meeting BJP’s arch rival in Bihar, and that it was merely a courtesy call.
Sinha had met Kumar on Saturday — hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi attacked the Chief Minister while launching the BJP campaign for the coming assembly polls in the state. After the meeting, Sinha had praised the Chief Minister, calling him the “Guardian of Bihar”, raising eyebrows within the party.
When asked about the praise he showered on Nitish, Sinha responded, “I am from Bihar. If I don’t talk about the CM of my state, who will I talk about”. Sinha also went on to add that his meeting Nitish was not offensive to his party.
Explaining the meeting with Kumar, Sinha said he had always maintained cordial relations with opposition leaders, including Left leaders Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and the late Jyoti Basu in Bengal.
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But he added that he didn’t mix personal friendship with politics. “I think of Nitish as my elder brother, have admiration for him, so I meet him for tea whenever I am in Patna.”
The BJP MP said he had gone to discuss the development agenda with Kumar about the state in general and his constituency, Patna Sahib, in particular.
On why was he missing at the PM’s rally at Muzaffarpur, about 75 kms from Patna, he said, “I was not invited there and that is why I did not go”.
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