PATNA: Bihar CM Nitish Kumar on Saturday rejected the INDIA bloc's recent decision to boycott the shows and events hosted by 14 journalists and news anchors. "I am not against any journalist and it is wrong to boycott," he said and added: "Why should I boycott? I am in favour of journalists. Look, when journalists get full freedom, they would write whatever they would consider proper and fit. Can journalists be kept under control? Did I ever keep any kind of control on journalists? I am not against anyone. The persons who are in the Centre right now have kept some people in their control and those people were committing some sorts of wrongdoings in journalism. Don't you people know all these things? I always respect you people (media)."
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Nitish was responding to media queries after inaugurating a girls' higher secondary school in the name of his spouse late Manju Sinha at his hometown Bakhtiyarpur in Patna. He said the people and parties with INDIA bloc might have felt that some incongruities are being committed in the field of journalism. "However, I am not against any of the news anchors," he said.
Nitish is the first leader from the bloc to openly reject the decision to boycott news anchors. The list came a day after the first coordination committee meeting of the bloc held in Delhi. In a statement, the committee authorised its media group to decide on the anchors in whose shows none of the INDIA parties will send their representatives.