Bihar government rejects BJP's request for venue for former CM Karpoori Thakur's anniversary

Bihar government has rejected BJP's demand for a specific ground to celebrate birth anniversary of socialist leader and former Chief Minister Karpoori Thakur on January 23 in the presence of party chief Amit Shah saying it has already been alloted to someone else, forcing the party to look for alternate venue.

The saffron party termed the rejection as sabotage by the state government and blamed senior JD(U) leader and former Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for it. 

The government on Tuesday informed BJP that it could not provide the desired Miller High School ground here for the function, Bihar BJP President Mangal Pandey said here on Monday. "The date of Karpoori Thakur's birth anniversary and Shah's participation is fixed. We'll definitely hold the programme. Right now we are trying to find an alternative venue where the event could be organised properly," he said.

Pandey said BJP had applied to the Education Department on December 18 to hire the Miller High School ground here to celebrate the birth anniversary of Thakur as it was close to the party's state headquarter. "Education Minister Brishin Patel had assured that it would be made available to us. We received a letter from the department yesterday that the venue won't be given to us. The letter also said the ground has already been allotted on the requested dates to Labour Resources Department for some programme," Pandey said.

Alleging sabotage by the state government, Pandey blamed senior JD(U) leader and former Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for the rejection of the ground.

Thakur, two-time chief minister during 1970s, is considered the tallest leader among the Extremely Backward Castes, which constitute around 30 per cent of state's 10 crore population.