INDIA bloc to observe Gandhi Jayanti across country, says Nitish Kumar

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Saturday said that the opposition coalition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance will be holding country-wide programmes on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti on October 2.

Without revealing details of the proposed programmes, the leader of the Janata Dal-United, a constituent of INDIA, said that a decision in this regard was taken at the just concluded conclave of the opposition alliance in Mumbai.

Kumar claimed that the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance was rattled by the “unity of the opposition” and, therefore, the central government has convened later this month a special session of Parliament, the agenda for which has not been revealed.

“We have taken a resolution that the INDIA alliance will observe Gandhi Jayanti across the country.

“The INDIA alliance has rattled the ruling BJP which has forced the Central government to explore the possibility of holding assembly and national elections simultaneously. The move betrays panic in the BJP after they saw the unity of opposition parties under the INDIA coalition,” Kumar told reporters in Patna.

The chief minister, who returned from Mumbai after attending the INDIA conclave last night, asked why the Central government was not talking about the delay in the decadal census.

“It has not begun the census so far which. But, as per norms, it should have been completed long back. This government has time for all other things but not for the caste survey and census,” he said on the sidelines of a function on the occasion of birth anniversary of former chief minister, the late Daroga Prasad Rai.

The Nitish Kumar government got a caste survey done in Bihar after the Centre made it clear that it would not conduct separate headcounts for social groups other than SCs and STs.

"Convening a special session of Parliament indicates that they are thinking of holding early polls, the possibility of which I have seen and shared with you all," Kumar told reporters.

The Parliament, which was adjourned last month after the monsoon session, will meet from September 18 to 22 for a special session.

Kumar, whose JD(U) has 16 MPs in Lok Sabha, said, “We will raise crucial issues such as caste survey, census and one nation one election during the upcoming session”.

A resolution has been taken to contest the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections together "as far as possible" and the seat-sharing arrangements will be concluded at the earliest, he said.