INDIA Coalition to Hold Country-Wide Programmes on Gandhi Jayanti: Nitish Kumar

GG News Bureau

Patna, 2nd Sept. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar announced on Saturday that the opposition coalition INDIA will be holding countrywide events to commemorate Gandhi Jayanti on October 2.

Without elaborating on the proposed programs, the leader of the JD(U), a constituent of INDIA, stated that a decision in this regard was made at the opposition alliance’s recently concluded summit in Mumbai.

Kumar claimed that the “unity of the opposition” has shaken the BJP-led NDA, and as a result, the central government has called a special session of Parliament later this month, the agenda of which has not been divulged.

“We have taken a resolution that the INDIA alliance will celebrate Gandhi Jayanti across the country.

“The INDIA alliance has rattled the ruling BJP which has forced the Central government to explore the possibility of holding assembly and national elections simultaneously. The move betrays panic in the BJP after they saw the unity of opposition parties under the INDIA coalition,” Kumar told reporters here.

The chief minister, who returned from Mumbai last night after attending the INDIA conclave, questioned why the Central government was not discussing the decadal census delay.

“It has not begun the census so far which. But, as per norms, it should have been completed long back. This government has time for all other things but not for the caste survey and census,” he said on the sidelines of a function on the occasion of birth anniversary of former chief minister, the late Daroga Prasad Rai.

The Nitish Kumar government got a caste survey done in Bihar after the Centre made it clear that it would not conduct separate headcounts for social groups other than SCs and STs.

“Convening a special session of Parliament indicates that they are thinking of holding early polls, the possibility of which I have seen and shared with you all,” Kumar told reporters.

The Parliament, which was adjourned last month after the monsoon session, will meet from September 18 to 22 for a special session.

Kumar, whose JD(U) has 16 MPs in Lok Sabha, said, “We will raise crucial issues such as caste survey, census and one nation one election during the upcoming session”.

A resolution has been taken to contest the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections together “as far as possible” and the seat-sharing arrangements will be concluded at the earliest, he said.