KCR meets Nitish Kumar, Tejashwi Yadav in Patna; BJP calls it 'comedy show' of opposition unity

New Delhi: Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao on Wednesday (August 31, 2022) met his Bihar counterpart Nitish Kumar in Patna. Chief Ministers of both the states discussed national politics on the occasion. Commonly known as KCR, Rao also met Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader and Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Prasad Yadav. 

During the visit, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) chief also gave financial assistance to the families of Indian soldiers, who were martyred in Galwan valley in 2020. He also provided financial aid to the kin of 12 workers from Bihar, who died in a fire accident recently. 

माननीय मुख्यमंत्री श्री नीतीश कुमार जी ने तेलंगाना के मुख्यमंत्री श्री के.चंद्रशेखर राव जी का पुष्पगुच्छ देकर स्वागत कियाl pic.twitter.com/0R7xHs8Kqp — Janata Dal (United) (@Jduonline) August 31, 2022

मा० उप मुख्यमंत्री श्री @yadavtejashwi जी आज ने आज मा० मुख्यमंत्री श्री @NitishKumar
जी के साथ तेलंगाना के मुख्यमंत्री श्री के० चंद्रशेखर राव जी के आगमन पर उनका हार्दिक स्वागत व अभिनंदन किया। pic.twitter.com/zcqWfRyshu — Office of Tejashwi Yadav (@TejashwiOffice) August 31, 2022

Nitish Kumar criticises Modi govt's 'excessive prachaar-prasaar'

Addressing a function alongside K Chandrasekhar Rao, Kumar took a veiled dig at BJP which has undertaken an aggressive campaign to expand its base in the southern state.

Kumar, who made the concluding remarks, expressed anguish over the Narendra Modi government's stout refusal to accept his plea for giving special category status to Bihar.

"The special status could have helped us develop faster ... I have now left them (BJP-led government). The old times were different as Atal ji (Atal Bihari Vajpayee) used to treat others with respect. Now there is no work only prachaar and prasaar," Kumar said, who severed his ties with the saffron party accusing it of trying to break his party.

"All states are suffering under the current dispensation. States' share in revenue is declining," he alleged.

In his brief speech in Hindi, KCR referred to Bihar as being the land of 'kranti' (revolution) and said his home state was the land of Godavari river, called the 'Ganges of the south' while the holy river itself flowed through the eastern province.

Rao's visit comes days after Kumar, the JD(U) president, severed ties with the NDA and formed a government in the state with RJD, Congress, CPI-ML (L), CPI, CPI(M) and HAM under the 'Mahagathbandhan'. 

Get-together of two 'daydreamers': BJP on Nitish Kumar-KCR meeting

Meanwhile, BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi took a dig at Nitish Kumar and KCR, saying their meeting is a "get-together of two daydreamers".

He also said that it is a meeting of two leaders who are losing their base in their respective states and "desiring to become prime minister of the country".

"It is a meeting of two daydreamers who have no standing in front of Prime Minister Narendra Modi," the BJP leader told reporters.

Modi, who was a deputy chief minister for more than a decade with Kumar as the CM in the JD(U)-BJP government in Bihar, dubbed the meeting as the "latest comedy show of opposition unity."

(With agency inputs)