New Delhi: Hours earlier than Chief Minister Nitish Kumar introduced his plan to maneuver to the Rajya Sabha, the Bihar administration issued instructions proscribing media entry to the state meeting.

“As per course, it’s to tell that, relating to programme on fifth March in Bihar Vidhan Sabha, media representatives are usually not allowed past Gate No. 10 of Bihar Vidhan Sabha. Entry from different gates can be prohibited. Protection might be achieved from Gate No. 10,” the Patna district administration stated in a communication.

PTI reported that Nitish filed his nomination papers for the Rajya Sabha earlier than the Secretary, Bihar Legislative Meeting Workplace Cell, within the presence of Union House Minister Amit Shah, and deputy chief ministers Samrat Chaudhary and Vijay Sinha.

It’s the primary time such media restrictions have been put in place earlier than the submitting of nomination papers for the Rajya Sabha polls.

Within the run as much as final yr’s Bihar meeting election, Jan Suraaj chief Prashant Kishor had alleged that the CM was “mentally unfit” and even challenged that if Nitish may recognise his ministers with none assist, he (Kishor) would stop politics.

In latest instances, Nitish’s shut associates have managed entry to him, with the CM’s frequent gaffes inflicting embarrassment to the federal government. Typically, he solely made temporary media appearances or got here for photo-ops. Forward of final yr’s polls too, Nitish made restricted and abrupt appearances, comparable to briefly attending the NDA manifesto launch. Then too, he left with out interacting with the media.

“What the Indian Nationwide Congress was repeatedly saying through the Bihar election marketing campaign has now been confirmed true. Underneath a conspiracy hatched by G2, a coup has been carried out in Bihar to grab energy. In some ways, this can be a main betrayal of the folks’s mandate,” senior Congress chief Jairam Ramesh posted on X.

Senior RJD chief and Rajya Sabha MP Manoj Kumar Jha, reacting to Nitish’s publish on X Thursday “looking for to develop into a member of the Rajya Sabha”, stated: “It’s hardly possible that anybody would doubt or hesitate to imagine that this publish doesn’t sound like Nitish Kumarji’s personal voice. There’s an odd, alien echo within the phrases, as if the sentences have been crafted elsewhere and merely recited right here.”

In response to political consultants, the administration’s order proscribing media motion on the meeting Thursday is a part of the plan to protect Nitish, JD(U) chief, from queries.

“You see, some JD(U) employees are fairly upset over the choice, and since it’s Holi, most papers don’t have an version, so the information (of Nitish’s transfer) was restricted to social media and digital media solely. The concept is to limit the information as a lot as attainable so {that a} ‘pro-Nitish motion’ build-up by JD(U) leaders doesn’t occur,” professor Rakesh Ranjan of Patna College informed ThePrint.

“In most villages, newspapers are nonetheless the principle supply of data, and by the point they get the knowledge, Nitish Kumar would have already filed his nominations (for Rajya Sabha). Earlier too, there was an try to protect him from the media, and this newest order appears to be alongside these traces,” he added.

(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)

---

Additionally Learn: Nitish eyes Rajya Sabha seat, paving means for 1st BJP CM—‘relationship with folks of Bihar to proceed’

---