JD(U) cries foul over Central government's refusal to okay CM Nitish Kumar's Nepal visit

PATNA: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar may not be showing it, but it’s quite evident that he isn’t amused with the way the Central government ‘aborted’ his Nepal visit to oversee relief work in the bordering town of Janakpur. But despite Kumar’s reticence, his party workers aren’t ready to take things lying down. “The ministry of external affairs had agreed to the proposal of CM’s visit. But I don’t know why it was scuttled at the last moment,” said Janata Dal (U) national spokesperson KC Tyagi, hinting that the matter may be raised in Parliament.

While political clearance was initially granted, MEA sources said, it was reversed at the instance of a high-level team that returned on Sunday following a tour of earthquake affected areas of Nepal.

The team, which was headed by National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar, conveyed that the Nepalese government had advised against any political visits as that only detracted from overall efforts besides needless politicisation of the relief process. This, official said, was also the advice of Indian Ambassador to Nepal Ranjit Rae. Based on this, the political clearance was reviewed and withdrawn. Ever since the Himalyan kingdom has been hit by an earthquake which killed over 7,000 people, Kumar made sure that his government provided relief to the quake-hit people.