Nitish may not attend Samajwadi Party event

Patna, Oct 27: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar may not attend the silver jubilee ceremony of Uttar Pradesh's ruling Samajwadi Party in November.

The Samajwadi Party's Uttar Pradesh chief, Shivpal Yadav, has invited both Nitish Kumar and RJD leader Lalu Prasad for the November 5 function, a Janata Dal-United (JD-U) leader said on Thursday.

But Nitish Kumar was unlikely to attend it as Bihar's most popular festival, Chhath Puja, falls on November 6, said the JD-U leader. But he said there was a chance the Bihar Chief Minister may still go.

Lalu Prasad is, however, expected to attend the celebrations.

The Samajwadi Party had walked out of the RJD-JD-U alliance in Bihar last year, straining relations between Nitish Kumar and Samajwadi supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav.

Nitish Kumar has vowed to contest the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls early next year.