Patna: Senior BJP leader and deputy CM Vijay Kumar Sinha had a verbal spat with JD(U) minister Ashok Kumar Choudhary in the NDA legislators’ meeting held in the central hall on Monday. The meeting was held to discuss the floor management during the rest four days of the monsoon session. Sinha targeted Choudhary for not inviting local MLA Prahlad Yadav in the official function of the rural works department at Suryagarha in Lakhisarai, the home district of Sinha, for laying the foundation stones for several development projects last week. Suryagarha comes under Munger Lok Sabha constituency, which is being represented by former JD(U) president Rajiv Ranjan alias Lalan Singh, who was also present in the function that day.Prahlad, a six-time MLA from Suryagarha, had supported the Nitish govt in the floor test after the JD(U) chief dumped RJD-Cong alliance and formed the NDA govt again with BJP in Jan 2024 ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.When contacted, Prahlad justified Sinha’s stand. “Hum saath diye hain aur itna alag kijiyega? Alliance dharam ka palan to karna hin chahiye na. Choudhary ji was getting upset and shouting. Vijay ji as well as the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) had also opposed serving mutton among the supporters that day in the month of Shrawan. Jiski apni jameen nahi aur jo kripa par hai, uspar kya kahna,” Prahlad told this newspaper after the ruckus.When asked if he apprehended not getting BJP ticket in the coming election as he had defeated JD(U) candidate Ramanand Mandal in 2020, Prahlad said, “This had always been a BJP seat before Mandal last time. BJP had won this seat thrice.” Meanwhile, some of the MLAs, including BJP’s Gyanendra Singh Gyanu, also opposed the global tendering for state govt projects by Choudhary, who justified it, leading to a ruckus. Gyanu said the global tendering will cause losses for the NDA in the elections. Some of the MLAs also expressed anger over the way the tap water supply scheme was implemented in the state.Sinha said not just one but all the allies will have to follow the coalition dharma. He also said Prahlad had supported in forming the NDA govt and the top leaders were already aware of it.
