Patna: National President Janata Dal (United), Lalan Singh has rubbished reports that Bihar Chief Minister and JDU chief Nitish Kumar was “averse” to the naming of the opposition alliance as the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA). Talking to the media in Patna, Singh said, “Nitish Kumar is the architect of opposition unity and he is not angry from anywhere”.
Singh also slammed reports that the Bihar CM was averse to the rechristening of UPA as INDIA at the 2nd opposition meet in Karnataka capital Bengaluru on Tuesday. Calling the reports as “bad propaganda”, Lalan Singh said that the name of the alliance has been kept with the consent of all the parties. “There is no difference of opinion from anywhere regarding the name INDIA,” he said.
Also read: Nitish Kumar hesitant on opposition alliance to be named 'INDIA': Sources
On Tuesday, right after the 2nd opposition meet concluded in Bengaluru, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar left for Patna without holding a press conference. Quoting “sources”, a section of media reported that Nitish Kumar had objected to naming the alliance of opposition parties as INDIA. Meanwhile, JDU National President Lalan Singh also targeted Bihar BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi for his statements about the opposition unity.
Sushil Modi has a “penchant for publicity”. “Let him speak whatever he wants. If he doesn't speak then how will he be in headlines?” Lalan Singh said. Lalan Singh also taunted Prime Minister Narendra Modi for calling a meeting of NDA the same day the opposition alliance INDIA was formed. “We were in NDA alliance for five years, but there has never been a meeting of the NDA coalition party,” he said.
"What was the need that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had to call a meeting of the NDA alliance? Seeing the unity of the opposition, somewhere Narendra Modi is upset, restless, that is why he has called a meeting of the NDA alliance, but the parties in it are mostly from the North East. Everyone knows which parties are with us and which party has how much vote percentage," Lalan Singh added.
