Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav, who is also Leader of Opposition in the Bihar Assembly, on Friday asked Defence Minister Rajnath Singh why his party had not been invited for the all-party meeting on India-China face-off to be held later in the day.
“Rashtriya Janata Dal is the largest party in Bihar and it has five MPs (Rajya Sabha) but we’ve not been invited to today’s all-party meeting on India China face-off. We want Rajnath Singh ji to clarify as to why RJD hasn’t been invited”, said Tejaswhi Yadav.
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Earlier, on Thursday too, Mr. Yadav tweeted to pose the same question. “Dear @DefenceMinister @PMOIndia , just wish to know the criteria for inviting political parties for tomorrow’s #AllpartyMeet on #GalwanValley. I mean the grounds of inclusion / exclusion. Because our party @RJDforIndia hasn’t received any message so far”.
When the bodies of five soldiers from Bihar who were martyred in the Galwan valley face-off with Chinese troops reached Patna on Wednesday and Thursday, Mr. Yadav, along with other leaders, paid his tributes at the city airport.
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His party leader and Rajya Sabha MP Manoj Jha too expressed concern over the RJD not being invited for the meeting.
“This is very sad and unfortunate that we are not invited. We are the single largest party in Bihar, including five Rajya Sabha MPs, eight MLC and 80 MLAs. The party is present in 21 States. I do not know what criteria they have fixed for the invitation to the political parties to attend the meeting”, said Mr. Jha, while adding, “We’ve many things to ask and suggest to the Prime Minister on the issue”.
Out of 20 Indian Army personnel who had lost their lives in a violent face-off with Chinese troops at Galwan valley along border in Ladakh on Monday night, five were from Bihar.