Could not attend meeting as I was away for four days: Nitish Kumar

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar today said he could not be present at the meeting in Kolkata convened by Union home minister P Chidambaram to draw up a blueprint for tackling Maoists as he was away from the state.

Stating that he had been away from Patna for four days, Kumar said he could not attend the meeting. 

"I have sent director general of police and principal secretary (home) to attend the meeting and represent Bihar," he told reporters after arriving from New Delhi where he attended a meeting on internal security called by prime minister Manmohan Singh.

Referring to his visit to Dharamsala in Himachal Pradesh, Kumar said that Tibetan spiritual head, the Dalai Lama had agreed to be in Patna on May 27 for the inauguration of the Buddha Smriti Park.