The BJP on Tuesday slammed Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for skipping the all-party meeting convened by the Centre to solicit suggestions for the G20 summit which will be held in India next year.
Kumar's decision to "boycott" the all-party meeting in the national capital on Monday, is "against the government's protocols", senior BJP leader and Bihar's former deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi said in a video statement.
"Since Kumar ditched the BJP and the PM twice in the past and joined hands with the 'grand alliance', he (Kumar) could not muster the courage to face the PM or attend the all-party meet," the BJP leader said.
Even JD(U) president Rajiv Ranjan Singh, popularly known as Lalan Singh, did not attend the PM's meeting, he said.
“Now the CM must clarify whether he will attend meetings of the engagement groups of G-20 scheduled to be held in Patna in March or not," Sushil Kumar Modi said. The BJP leader also asked, "As per protocol, the CM should receive the PM at the airport…will Nitish Kumar follow it?"
He also reminded that the chief ministers of states ruled by non-BJP parties, such as Arvind Kejriwal, Mamata Banerjee and M K Stalin, who are critics of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, attended the meeting. Reacting to Shushil Modi's remarks, JD(U) national general secretary and MLC Afaq Ahmad Khan said, “Nitish ji is a visionary leader. I must say that people are now waiting for the 2024 parliamentary polls…BJP will be wiped out in the next Lok Sabha elections."
PM Modi told the all-party meeting that India's G-20 presidency is a unique opportunity to showcase the country's strengths to the entire world. Asserting that the country's presidency of the G-20, a group of the world's 20 major economies, belongs to the entire nation, PM Modi said there is a global curiosity and attraction towards India today that further increases the occasion's potential, the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement on Monday.
India officially assumed the G20 presidency on December 1. India is expected to host over 200 preparatory meetings across the country beginning this month. The next G20 Leaders’ Summit at the level of heads of states or governments is scheduled to be held on September 9 and 10 in 2023 in New Delhi.
G20 or Group of 20 is an intergovernmental forum of the world’s major developed and developing economies. It comprises Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the UK, the US and the European Union.
(With PTI inputs)
