Lalu to skip Karunanidhi's birthday bash due to ill health, Nitish will attend
Karunanidhi's daughter Kanimozhi last month had come to Patna and invited Lalu and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to attend her father's birthday bash which is also being seen as another attempt to cobble a grand alliance on the national platform against the BJP ahead of 2019.
In Short
- Lalu will not attend DMK chief M Karunanidhi's 94th birthday bash.
- RJD supremo cited ill health as reason for not attending.
- Nitish Kumar will however attend the function in Chennai.
RJD supremo Lalu Prasad will not be attending the 94th birthday celebration of DMK chief M Karunanidhi in Chennai tomorrow. Lalu, who was scheduled to fly to Delhi today and later to Chennai tomorrow, cancelled his program citing ill health. Lalu's close aide and MLA Bhola Yadav informed India Today about his inability to fly to Chennai.
"Lalu Ji will not be going to Chennai to attend Karunanidhi's birthday bash. He has fallen ill and has seasonal fever. He was scheduled to go today but will not now," said Bhola Yadav.
Karunanidhi's daughter Kanimozhi last month had come to Patna and invited Lalu and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to attend her father's birthday bash which is also being seen as another attempt to cobble a grand alliance on the national platform against the BJP ahead of 2019. Nitish, however, will be attending the DMK chief's birthday celebration.
Lalu skipping Karunanidhi's birthday is also being viewed as a setback to the anti-BJP forces ahead of the Presidential polls. Last month, Congress president Sonia Gandhi had convened a meeting of all the opposition parties to build a consensus over the presidential candidate of the opposition but Nitish then skipped the meet, then.
Also, according to sources, Lalu is not happy with the JDU and Nitish Kumar who have decided not to support him on the corruption charges that have been leveled against him by BJP leader Sushil Modi. Modi has been coming out with sensational expose on Lalu and his family alleging them of acquiring "benami" property to the tune of Rs 1000 crore. Had Lalu and Nitish, both attended Karunanidhi's birthday bash, it would have been a first occasion of both Bihar leaders sharing the stage ever since Lalu faced fresh corruption charges.
It may be noted that Nitish Kumar's meeting last week with Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also not gone down well with Lalu as political circle is buzzing with speculations of Nitish cozying up to the BJP.
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