Patna: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Saturday sought to play down his attending a dinner being hosted by his political rival Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the national capital saying it was "part of an old tradition."
"It's an old tradition that the prime minister hosts a dinner for dignitaries on such an occasion (the Conference of Judges of High Courts)," Kumar said in Patna before leaving for Delhi to take part in conference.
"I have attended such a customary function earlier too," Kumar said. The news of Kumar attending Modi's dinner is being debated in Patna since he had withdrawan an invitation for dinner he had hosted for BJP leaders in Patna in June 2010 in reaction to a photograph published in newspapers showing Modi holding his hand.
The cancellation of the dinner for BJP leaders at that time is still discussed in political circles in Patna.
JD(U) and BJP parted ways in Bihar in 2013 in the wake of Modi being declared the party's prime ministerial candidate in Lok Sabha elections. Asked, Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) leader and union minister for state Upendra Kushwaha said "Whenever he (Kumar) meets you people next ask him about taste of the food served in the dinner by the PM."
Since assuming the post of chief minister for the fourth time on February 22 last, Kumar had met Modi at the wedding of Lalu Prasad's daughter and more recently when he participated in a conference of CMs on the Ganga.
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