Opposition boycotts event, calls it BJP power show

Patna: Boycotting the oath-taking ceremony of the expanded Samrat Choudhary cabinet at Gandhi Maidan on Thursday, opposition parties alleged the event was transformed into a BJP show of political strength rather than a constitutional function. Leaders of the Grand Alliance stayed away from the ceremony, claiming they were not invited with due protocol and respect.RJD spokesperson Chitranjan Gagan said the programme was organised entirely as a BJP event and alleged opposition leaders were deliberately sidelined.“It was a BJP programme. Even on the dais there was no space marked for the opposition leaders. Protocol was totally violated, which could be seen from the sitting arrangement of the governor too,” Gagan said.He further claimed leaders of opposition parties were invited merely as members of the two Houses of the legislature and not in their official capacities as leaders of the opposition.Another RJD spokesperson, Ejaz Ahmad, said the banners displayed at the venue reflected the BJP’s attempt to establish political dominance within the NDA. He pointed out that the stage backdrop prominently featured Prime Minister Narendra Modi and chief minister Samrat Choudhary, while former chief minister and JD(U) national president Nitish Kumar’s photograph was absent.Ahmad alleged the omission carried a deliberate political message for Nitish Kumar and other NDA allies. According to him, the BJP was signalling that the ceremony belonged entirely to the saffron party and that Nitish had been politically pushed into the background.Congress spokesperson Rajesh Rathore also criticised the event, describing it as a calculated BJP show of strength aimed particularly at the JD(U).“PM Narendra Modi did not come during the oath ceremony of the Bihar CM and his two deputies, which took place at the Governor House. But he came during the expansion of the cabinet and held a road show. These are tactics to belittle the JD(U) and portray itself as the more powerful one in the alliance,” Rathore said.CPI(ML) state secretary Kunal said his party did not receive any invitation to the programme.“Even if invited, we would not have attended it, just to listen to PM Modi,” he said.