BJP ministers turn up at cabinet meet in Bihar

Signalling a possible rapprochement, four of the nine BJP ministers today turned up for the Bihar cabinet meet chaired by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

Prem Kumar (minister for road construction), Renu Devi (minister for youth affairs, arts and culture), Rampravesh Rai (minister for tourism) and Awadhesh Narain Singh (labour resources minister) reached the state secretariat this afternoon to attend the meeting, the first after the recent controversy generated over return of the flood relief fund to Gujarat.

Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi, Minister for Health and state NDA convenor Nand Kishore Yadav, Minister for Public Health and Engineering Department Ashwini Choubey, Animal Resources Minister R N Mandal and Cooperative Minister Giriraj Singh were absent.

While Modi, Yadav and Choubey are camping in New Delhi to participate in the Core Committee meeting called by BJP president Nitin Gadkari, Giriraj Singh, who continued to target Nitish Kumar for raising fingers at Narendra Modi, left here for Muzaffarpur for an official function. BJP minister Mandal was away in Purnia, party insiders said.

Earlier, the BJP ministers were reluctant to attend the meeting but later decided to participate following a directive from Delhi, party sources claimed.

Top BJP leaders at the Centre and in Bihar favour continuance of the alliance, they said.

Nitish Kumar had yesterday sought to downplay the flood aid row with ally BJP, saying there was no cause for tension.

SK Modi had on Sunday decided to stay away from the Nitish's Biswas Yatra at Paliganj in Nalanda. State minister and NDA Convenor Yadav, who represents the Patna City constituency, had also pulled out from the 'Biswas Yatra' yesterday.

The crisis in the NDA emerged after Nitish Kumar reacted angrily to an advertisement in local dailies on the eve of the June 12-13 BJP national executive meeting which said that the Gujarat government contributed liberally towards relief for victims of the 2008 Kosi floods.