No NDA leader turns up to receive soldier's body amid BJP 'Sankalp Rally'

Patna: Amid the ongoing preparation for the BJP's grand 'Sankalp rally' in the state, no senior leader from the National Democratic Alliance turned up, on Patna airport, on Sunday, to receive the mortal remains of CRPF inspector Pintu Kumar Singh, who was killed in an anti-terrorist operation in Jammu and Kashmir's Kupwara on March 1.

A massive 'Sankalp' rally is being held at Gandhi Maidan, in Bihar, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to address a rally.

"It's very unfortunate that Chief Minister Nitish Kumar did not bother to come to pay his last respect," said Sanjay Singh, uncle of the CRPF inspector who was from Dhanchakki village in Begusarai, 130 km from Patna.

However, District magistrate Kumar Ravi, senior police officer Garima Mallick, top officers of the Central Reserve Police Force, state Congress chief Madan Mohan Jha and Lok Janshakti Party parliamentarian Choudhary Mahboob Ali Kaiser were some of the people who came to the airport.

"I am not here for politics. I came to pay my respect," said Madan Mohan Jha at Jai Prakash Narayan Airport in Patna.

Choudhary Mahboob Ali Kaiser, whose JLP is an ally of the NDA, said the chief minister should have at least sent a deputy colleague if he was busy with the rally in Patna.

On February 16, Nitish Kumar, his deputy Sushil Kumar Modi and Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had come to the airport to pay their tribute to two CRPF soldiers from Bihar who were killed in the Pulwama suicide bombing on Feb 14.

Today, several union ministers are in the state capital for the 'Sankalp' rally, and they are likely to visit the airport later to receive PM Modi.

It is to be mentioned that four security personnel, including an officer, were killed during an anti-terrorist operation in Kupwara on Friday.

CRPF inspector Pintu Singh was taking part in the fierce encounter with terrorists. One of the terrorists, who was presumed dead, emerged from the rubble of a destroyed house and started firing, which took the security personnel by surprise.

Thousands of people have flocked in to witness Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar share the stage, after nearly a decade, at the NDA's Sankalp rally, in Patna. It is also the first joint rally by the NDA in Bihar since November 2005.