Why was Amit Shah's absence from NDA meeting not questioned: Kushwaha
Patna, June 8: RLSP chief and Union Minister Upendra Kushwaha, who had skipped the NDA meeting and dinner here on Thursday night, on Friday sought to justify his absence, saying no one was asking why BJP President Amit Shah wasn't present.
The Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) chief is also unlikely to attend Iftar party to be hosted by Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi, of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), here on Friday evening.
"Amit Shah also did not attend the NDA meeting-cum-dinner party here but nobody is asking why he failed to be there," he said, expressing surprise over why some people are giving so much importance to his absence at the event.
It was the first such event after the NDA came to power in Bihar in July 2017 after the ruling Janata Dal-United (JD-U) broke ties with poll partners Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Congress to return to the BJP-led grouping.
Chief Minister and JD-U chief Nitish Kumar, Union Minister and Lok Janshakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan and senior BJP leaders were present and the RLSP chief was the only one who stayed away.
Kushwaha, who arrived here from Delhi, however claimed that there was no discontent within the NDA in the state.
"I am not unhappy or angry as speculated. NDA is united and there is no dispute," he said.
Ahead of the NDA meeting, RLSP leader Nagmani said Kushwaha should be the Chief Ministerial candidate of the NDA for the 2020 state Assembly polls, as Nitish Kumar "is not the only Chief Ministerial candidate" and Kushwaha was "also Chief Ministerial material".
His statement came amid the JD-U's bid to put up Nitish Kumar as an undisputed leader of the coalition in Bihar.
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Flight services between Kolkata, Dubai resume partially
Kolkata (PTI): Flight services between Kolkata and Dubai resumed partially on Thursday, after a four-day suspension due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, officials said.
A flydubai aircraft from Dubai landed at the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport here at 2:40 am with 130 passengers on board, marking the first arrival from the Middle East after services were halted for over 113 hours, they said.
The Boeing 737 Max aircraft was scheduled to arrive at 12:25 am, Kolkata airport officials said.
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The same aircraft departed for Dubai at 3:59 am with 55 passengers, they said.
The last flight to depart for the Middle East from Kolkata before the suspension was an Emirates aircraft to Dubai on February 28, the officials said.
International services between Kolkata and cities such as Dubai, Doha and Abu Dhabi were disrupted, after airlines temporarily suspended operations amid escalating tensions and airspace restrictions in parts of the Middle East, due to the conflict involving the US, Israel and Iran.
There is no clear indication about when all the Middle East routes will fully reopen, they said.
