(From left) Leader of Opposition Abdul Bari Siddiqui, chief minister Nitish Kumar and Governor Devanand Konwar attend the iftaar party at 1 Aney Marg on Thursday. Picture by Nagendra Kumar Singh

Patna, Aug. 18: Political, professional differences took a backseat today as chief minister Nitish Kumar hosted Governor Devanand Konwar and Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Abdul Bari Siddiqui at an iftaar party at his official residence in the state capital.

The party, open for common people, too, saw over 10,000 visitors throng 1 Aney Marg as early as 4.30pm. The iftaar began exactly at 6.10pm.

The iftaar, being hosted after a gap of two years, was grand in every manner. As many as 15 food items were prepared to impress the visitors.

The food items included mutton curry with potato, dry chicken, plain biryani, shirmani roti, bakar khani roti, fried brinjal, onion and chilli, nargis kebab, mokodi as sweet dish, fried gram, apple, banana and curd.

Over hundred cooks were called to prepare the food for the people and special arrangements were made for devotees to break the fast.

Nitish made sure that the Muslim devotees get conducive environment to sit for namaz before breaking their fast.

Nitish sat along with Maulvi Maulana Hasan Razaq Khan and repeated the prayers after him. Clad in white kurta, pyjama and sporting a skullcap, Nitish sat with his knees folded palms joint in prayer to Allah.

Following the tradition, dates and bottled water were made available to the regular namazis at the entrance only. Many people came to the event just to get a glimpse of the chief minister. This resulted in jostling among the visitors, as a result of which many of them fell on each other.

After reading the namaz, Nitish met many devotees and shook hand with them.

Nitish himself offered a food platter to Konwar.

He spoke to Siddiqui but chose to remain silent while sitting next to the governor.

Speaking on the occasion, Nitish wished happy ramzan to all devotees.

“It’s the holy month of Ramzan and I wish my Muslim brothers and sisters peaceful and happy festivities. It’s the time when all of us should pray for peace and harmony to be maintained in the state,” said Kumar.

“It’s a very pious month and we shall not have any grievances with anyone,” added the chief minister.

Asking about the reasons forinviting the Leader of the Opposition and the governor, Nitish said: “It’s the time to extend love and prosperity to everyone. As far as Siddiqui ji is concerned, it’s all part of politics. Today I am in power, tomorrow he may be in power. So we shall not play any politics right now.”

Nitish said he had invited RJD chief Lalu Prasad too but the latter could not come “perhaps because of the Parliament session”.

Siddiqui said: “When I perform my duty, I do it honestly. Today I have been invited to an iftaar party, so we must share the feeling of brotherhood on this occasion.”

Lalu Prasad and Rabri Devi will host an iftaar party at their official residence — 10 Circular Road — on August 26.