Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Janata Dal (United) general secretary K.C. Tyagi called on former Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala at his residence here on Sunday to enquire about his health and also discussed political issues.
The lunch meeting between the three leaders was pre-scheduled and Mr. Chautala had announced it this past Tuesday.
Abhay’s tweet
Indian National Lok Dal secretary-general and former Leader of Opposition, Abhay Singh, shared the news about the meeting between the three leaders with a tweet in Hindi and a few pictures. In one of the pictures, Mr. Kumar is seen offering a “shawl” to Mr. Chautala with the two leaders surrounded by a couple of more people. Mr. Tyagi is also seen in the picture.
Mr. Chautala, who was released from the jail last month on completion of his 10-year-sentence in a corruption case, had this past Tuesday said that he would soon start meeting political leaders towards forging a ‘third front’.
The octogenarian leader had said that he would try to meet leaders of all Opposition parties before September 25, the birth anniversary of former Deputy Prime Minister Devi Lal, to forge an alternative to the “corrupt BJP government at the Centre”. Mr. Chautala had said that he also had plans to meet Mr. Kumar, a BJP ally.
The BJP is the ruling party at the Centre and has alliance governments with the JJP in Haryana and with JD(U) in Bihar.
Farm laws flayed
Mr. Chautala had said that the “biggest need today is to change the present regime”, adding that Centre’s farm laws were against the farmers and would only benefit the corporate.
Mr. Kumar and Mr. Tyagi have earlier worked with Mr. O.P. Chautala’s father and former Deputy Prime Minister late Chaudhary Devi Lal.
(With PTI inputs)