PATNA: Chief minister (CM) Nitish Kumar on Monday attended a series of ‘dahi-chura’ feasts organised by NDA functionaries on the occasion of Makar Sankranti The CM first drove to the Hardinge Road residence of JD(U) state president and Rajya Sabha member Bashishtha Narain Singh where senior party leaders welcomed him. Singh welcomed Nitish by offering him a bouquet.Assembly Speaker Vijay Kumar Choudhary, legislative council acting chairman Haroon Rashid, deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi , building construction minister Maheshwar Hazari, industries minister Jai Kumar Singh, former education minister and JD(U) MLC Ashok Choudhary, MLC Ranbir Nandan and former minister Ranju Geeta also attended the feast at Singh’s residence.The CM later drove to the office of Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) where its chief and Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan hosted a similar feast. As soon as the CM reached the LJP office, he was warmly welcomed by Paswan, his brother and minister Pashupati Kumar Paras and son Chirag Paswan. Governor Lalji Tandon and several other NDA functionaries also attended the feast at the LJP office.The CM attended another ‘dahi-chura’ feast at the residence of BJP MLC Ranjish Kumar along with assembly Speaker Choudhary and Haroon Rashid.Union minister of state for health and family welfare Ashwini Kumar Choubey also organised a ‘parivar milan’ programme on the occasion of Makar Sankranti at Shakha Maidan in Rajendra Nagar locality of the city where participants relished ‘dahi-chura’, ‘tilkut’ and sweets.A large number of BJP and RSS workers attended the feast hosted by Choubey and his son Arijit Shahswat. Prominent among those who attended the feast at Shakha Maidan were governor Lalji Tandon, Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan, Sushil Modi, former Union minister Dr C P Thakur and the RSS’s state chief Mohan Singh.Choubey said he had sent a formal invitation to all senior NDA functionaries, including Nitish, to attend the feast. “I had tried to contact the CM late on Sunday evening to extend personal invitation, but the call could not materialise. The CM probably could not attend the feast due to prior engagements. One should not read much into it,” he said.A CMO official said as per the CM’s scheduled programme for Monday, he was not supposed to attend any event at the Shakha Maidan.

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