Nitish Kumar To Skip Third BJP Event In 10 Days - Droupadi Murmu's Oath

Nitish Kumar has skipped several functions where the invite came from the BJP brass. The next one on the "ignore' list is the oath ceremony of President-elect Droupadi Murmu, due tomorrow.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, snubbed repeatedly by the BJP, is sending a loud and clear message to the party's central leadership. The Chief Minister has skipped several functions where the invite came from the party brass. The next one on the "ignore' list is the oath ceremony of President-elect Droupadi Murmu, due tomorrow. The Chief Minister will not be attending the function in Delhi, said party sources, because he will be tied up with a meeting on the Central welfare scheme MNREGA.

On July 17, he had given a miss to a meeting of Chief Ministers called by Union Home Minister Amit Shah and deputed a proxy. The meet to discuss issues related to the national flag, was attended by the BJP's Tarkishor Prasad.

On Friday, he again skipped a dinner for outgoing President Ram Nath Kovind, hosted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This time, he cited the oath ceremony of seven newly elected members of the legislative council -- which was over by 4 pm.

The provocation appears to be the BJP's omission of an invite to him for the Prime Minister's address at the Bihar Legislative Assembly's centenary celebrations. PM Modi was persuaded to attend the function by Speaker Vijay Kumar Sinha, who since taking over as Speaker crossed swords with the Chief Minister several times, leading to an angry outburst by him. This was the first time a Prime Minister addressed the Bihar legislative assembly.