Former Union minister and president of Jammu and Kashmir’s main Opposition party National Conference (NC) Farooq Abdullah will attend the swearing-in ceremony of Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, sc
Former Union minister and president of Jammu and Kashmir’s main Opposition party National Conference (NC) Farooq Abdullah will attend the swearing-in ceremony of Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, scheduled to be held in Patna on November 20.
“Mr Nitish Kumar called up the NC president personally in the morning and requested his participation in the oath taking ceremony,” a party spokesperson said here on Monday. He added that Mr Abdullah has accepted the invitation.
NC working president and former J&K CM Omar Abdullah will also attend the swearing-in ceremony. He tweeted on Monday afternoon, “Just received a call from @NitishKumar ji inviting me to Patna on the 20th for the oath-taking ceremony. I look forward to being there.”
Mr Kumar has also invited Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee to his swearing-in ceremony and both of them have already confirmed their participation. He has also invited all Congress chief ministers.
A close aide of Ms Banerjee said that she took the decision after Mr Kumar on Monday morning called her and not only extended the invitation again
(Mr Kumar had already invited her) but also insisted that she must attend. Trinamul Congress national spokesperson and MP Derek O’Brien confirmed that Ms Banerjee would attend Mr Kumar’s oath-taking programme. A party insider said that till Sunday evening, Ms Banerjee’s Patna visit seemed unlikely because of the Biswa Bangla Sarad Samman Award which also falls on November 20.
The Nitish Kumar-led Grand Alliance won 178, an absolute majority, in the elections.
