Nitish Kumar among Oppn CMs to attend G20 dinner, but many to skip

Former prime ministers Manmohan Singh and H D Deve Gowda have expressed their inability to attend Saturday’s G20 Summit dinner at Bharat Mandapam due to ill health. 
 

Among the INDIA bloc chief ministers, Delhi’s Arvind Kejriwal, West Bengal’s Mamata Banerjee, and their Jharkhand counterpart Hemant Soren will attend, as could Tamil Nadu’s M K Stalin. 
 

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar will attend the dinner, reaching the national capital by afternoon, sources said. Chief ministers of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance-ruled states will be present in full force.
 

Of the Congress CMs, Himachal Pradesh’s Sukhv­inder Singh Sukhu will likely be present, but Chhatti­sgarh’s Bhupesh Baghel and Karnataka’s Siddaramaiah will not attend. Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge has not been invited to the dinner. Sources in the Congress said he should have been since he is the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha. 
 

Gowda posted on X: “I will not be attending the G20 dinner due to health reasons. I have already communicated this to the government. I wish the G20 summit a grand success.” YS Jaganmohan Reddy, Naveen Patnaik and K Chandrashekar Rao were unlikely to attend the meet.