Patna: While Patna accorded a warm welcome to the guests participating in the 85th All India Presiding Officers’ Conference being held here, the absence of a few ministers, who were listed as speakers, surprised many.
As per the details of the programme issued to the media, parliamentary affairs minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary (JDU), deputy CM Vijay Kumar Sinha (BJP), and leader of opposition in the assembly Tejashwi Prasad Yadav were included in the select list of speakers.

However, parliamentary affairs minister Choudhary joined CM Nitish Kumar’s Pragati Yatra in Supaul. “The minister had a pre-scheduled programme somewhere else. Hence, he skipped the event,” one of his close associates said on Monday. Deputy CM Sinha also did not attend the event.
Tejashwi was also conspicuous by his absence at the event. Instead, he was found interacting with party workers in Aurangabad and chalking out a strategy to win the next assembly elections. “Tejashwi had a pre-scheduled programme in Aurangabad. So he could not have ignored it,” said RJD spokesperson Shakti Singh Yadav.
Surprisingly, CM Nitish Kumar’s name did not appear in the list of speakers. “None felt good as the CM was not present in the event. We don’t know what’s cooking in Bihar politics,” said Congress legislature party leader Shakeel Ahmad Khan.
However, a JD(U) spokesperson, not wishing not to be named, said: “The CM is busy with his Pragati Yatra.”