PATNA, Nov 19: Sulking BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha today said he received an invitation from Bihar Chief Minister designate Nitish Kumar for the oath taking ceremony tomorrow but would not be able to attend the function due to “important personal engagements.”
“I received invitation from ‘friend’ (Nitish Kumar) and I wanted to come for the oath taking function but will not be able to attend it due to important personal engagements,” Sinha told.
“I conveyed my inability to come for the function to my friend,” Sinha, the BJP Lok Sabha member from Patna Sahib, said from temple city of Puri in Odisha.
The actor-turned-BJP leader is visiting Lord Jagannath temple along with wife Poonam Sinha.
About BJP’s performance in the Bihar polls, Sinha quipped, “I will pray to Lord Jagannath that good sense prevails on my party to overcome the shortcomings exposed during Bihar elections.”
Sinha appreciated Prime Minister Narendra Modi for accepting Nitish Kumar’s invitation and deputing Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu along with some “Chota Mota” (small time) ministers to represent the union government at the oath taking ceremony.
State BJP Vice President Sanjay Mayukh said Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Rajiv Pratap Rudy would accompany Naidu to the ceremony at Gandhi Maidan here tomorrow.
Speculation was rife here whether Shatrughan Sinha popularly known as ‘Bihari Babu’ would attend the oath taking ceremony of rival JD(U), RJD and Congress coalition Government.
The second consecutive term MP, who also served as a minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee cabinet, has been vocal against the party for “sidelining” him in the Bihar poll.
He had visited the residence of Nitish Kumar as well RJD President Lalu Prasad the day results of Bihar poll were announced on November 8 to congratulate them on the landslide victory of grand secular alliance which won 178 seats in the 243-member Bihar house.
The visit had put BJP leaders in an uncomfortable position.
Amid media reports of a possibility of the party initiating action against him for his series of stinging comments, Sinha yesterday tweeted that no one has the guts or DNA to tick him off, in an apparent dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi. (PTI)
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