Nitish to lead Bihar delegation to Pakistan in Nov

Patna, Oct 17:

Chief Minister

will head a high-level delegation of ministers and officials to

next month to tell the "turnaround" story of the state there.

The delegation will be on a week-long visit to the neighbouring country from Nov 9-16 at the invitation of some provincial Chief Ministers there, officials in CM's office told PTI on Oct 16.

He is scheduled to visit Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad and will return by road through the Wagah border, they said. They said the CM would tell the turnaround story of Bihar after coming to power in 2005 to Pakistani leaders and others.

In 2003, RJD President Lalu Prasad had visited Pakistan and became hugely popular with his rustic humours. State Chief Secretary, Home Secretary, Minority Commission Chairman, ministers - Renu Kumari and Sukhda Pandey - besides JD(U) MP NK Singh would be part of the team headed by Kumar to Pakistan, the sources said.

A Pakistani delegation, which had visited Bihar in August, extended invitation on behalf of Punjab Chief Minister Mohammad Shahwaz Sharif, brother of former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to Kumar to visit that country.

The 18-member Pakistan Parliamentary delegation had met the Bihar CM and praised the "prevailing atmosphere of peace and tranquillity and communal harmony in the state."

"Bihar has registered tremendous growth in the past decade which is a matter of research," he had said and congratulated Kumar on ushering in development in the state through exemplary leadership.

PTI