Bihar: Nitish Kumar downplays Lalu's 'doors are always open' remark
Patna, Feb 17: A day after Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) president Lalu Prasad caused a flutter by saying "doors were always open for Nitish Kumar", Bihar Chief Minister on Saturday downplayed the issue and said he "maintained good relations with allies as well as opponents".
The JD(U) chief was replying to questions from journalists on the remark by Prasad, with whom he was seen warmly shaking hands and exchanging pleasantries inside the assembly premises on Thursday.
"I maintain good relations with allies and leaders of opposition parties. I shake hands with them whenever I meet them. That's all", Kumar said.
The CM said, "I don't think of who says what... Things were not going well, so I left them (RJD)".
On Friday, Lalu Prasad said, "doors are always open" for Nitish Kumar, days after the latter parted ways with the grand alliance.
Asked whether he will give another chance to Nitish in the future, Lalu said, "Ab aayenge toh dekhenge. Doors are always open".
When asked about cabinet expansion, Kumar said, "Ho Jayega (It will be done). Sab Theek Chal Raha Hai (things are going smoothly".
Sources in the NDA on Saturday indicated that Nitish Kumar's cabinet will be further expanded in two-three days to accommodate legislators belonging to other castes, minorities groups and women.
Those who are expected to be included in the cabinet are BJP leaders Shahnawaz Hussain, Nitin Nabin, Rampreet Paswan, Janak Ram, Shreyashi Singh and JD (U) leaders Sunil Kumar Singh, Madan Sahni, Lesi Singh, Sheila Mandal, Jayant Raj, Ashok Choudhary, said a senior leader of JD(U) on the condition of anonymity.
Responding to queries about the state government's latest order to review all decisions taken by the departments headed by former deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav and two RJD ministers Lalit Yadav and Ramanand Yadav, the CM said, "Irregularities (Gadbadiyaan) have taken place ... we will not tolerate this. Things are being investigated. I will keep doing development works for the overall growth of the state."
In a letter dated February 16, issued by the cabinet secretariat department headed by the CM, officials of the health, road construction, urban development and housing and rural works departments have been asked to review the decisions taken during the previous grand alliance government in the state. These departments were headed by Tejashwi Yadav.
Besides, the government has also asked top officials of public health engineering department (PHED) and mines and geology department to review the decisions taken by former RJD ministers- Lalit Yadav and Ramanand Yadav - in the previous government.
Kumar also said he agreed with the forecast of Prime Minister Narendra Modi that the BJP-led coalition will win more than 400 seats in the coming Lok Sabha polls.
"Yes, BJP will definitely win more seats this time compared to Lok Sabha seats it won in the 2019 polls. Mujhe Pura Bharosa Hai (I am fully confident)".
On alleged cracks in the opposition INDIA alliance, Kumar said, "They (leaders of INDIA bloc) were not doing anything that is the reason that cracks are developing. The name (INDIA) given to this alliance was not my choice at all. They decided on their own. Now, I have nothing to do with them. I am back here (NDA). Now, I am not bothered about what they are saying".
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
