Patna: Former Union Minister and two-time Buxar MP Ashwini Choubey walked out of a key Bharatiya Janata Party meeting in Patna today after he was denied a seat on stage. The incident occurred during the BJP State Working Committee meeting at Gyan Bhavan, inaugurated by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, as the party prepares for the Bihar Assembly Elections 2025.
Ashwini, who accompanied Rajnath Singh to the stage along with other senior leaders including Vinod Tawde and Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Chaudhary, was seen scanning the chairs but found none bearing his name. Without taking a seat, he left the stage and exited the venue shortly after greeting Rajnath.
When questioned by reporters about his sudden departure before the meeting formally began, Ashwini dismissed suggestions of disrespect, saying he had to attend another programme at Gandhi Maidan. “There is no such thing. The whole hall is for us,” he said, downplaying the perceived snub.
Ashwini had served as a Union Minister and won the Buxar parliamentary seat in both 2014 and 2019, though he was denied a ticket in the recent Lok Sabha elections, where BJP lost the seat. Known for his early support for Narendra Modi in Bihar even when Nitish Kumar’s relations with the Prime Minister were strained, Ashwini remains one of the party’s senior-most figures in the state.
