MPs play truant in Lalu's feast

Three of the four Lok Sabha MPs of the RJD were conspicuously missing from the feast hosted by the party chief, Lalu Prasad, on the occasion of Makar Sankranti.

Madhepura MP Pappu Yadav, Bhagalpur parliamentarian Bullo Mandal and Araria MP Md Taslimuddin did not turn up. Only Banka MP Jai Prakash Narayan Yadav was visible on the occasion. While Taslimuddin rarely ventures into Patna because of his age, Bullo remained elusive. 'But the main anger of the RJD chief is against Pappu, who has been defying the party's direction by holding agitations against the doctors,' said an RJD leader, stressing that there was a suspicion that Pappu would repeat his track record of revolting against Lalu before the next Assembly polls and field his own candidates in the Seemanchal region.

Back to Nitish model

When Jitan Ram Manjhi took over as the chief minister from Nitish Kumar, one of the several changes he made was the seat arrangement for ministers and their secretaries in his janata durbar. During the Nitish regime, the ministers and the bureaucratic head of the department concerned sat together. Manjhi changed the format and made them sit separately. But the old arrangement was back in the last janata durbar of the chief minister. 'Ministers grumbled to Manjhi that they would like to sit with the officials to see what the bureaucrats were ordering,' said a source in 1 Aney Marg, pointing out that the ministers perhaps did not trust their officials. A minister had a different view. 'Manjhi has been breaking every norm and procedure set up by Nitish. We have ensured he follows at least one of them,' the minister said.

Meet scare & reality

Several JDU and RJD MLAs were scared of going to a recent meeting of Bihar Legislative Assembly panels called by Speaker Uday Narayan Chaudhary. There were speculations that they would be asked to sign on a blank paper, which would be used later as their approval to the merger of their parties because some MLAs on the either side were opposing the move. Several JDU MLAs were relieved coming out of the meeting. 'We were not asked to sign on any paper,' said a JDU MLA. A source indicated that the national president of the JDU, Sharad Yadav, had made a call to the Speaker's office and asked for the personal telephone number of Chaudhary. 'Perhaps, the paper signature was called off at the last moment,' he said.

Natural guest of Shatrughan

Chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi was in Mumbai on Sunday to attend the wedding ceremony of BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha's son. 'The invitation to Manjhi left many BJP leaders with heartburns because they were not invited. Manjhi was a natural choice. I have heard that the state government has recommended the name of Shatrughan for Padma Vibhushan,' sulked a BJP leader. Despite being the BJP MP from Patna Sahib, Shatrughan enjoyed excellent relationship with successive chief ministers Lalu Prasad, Rabri Devi and Nitish Kumar even at the cost of antagonising his party leaders. 'Naturally, Manjhi was also invited,' said another BJP leader.

Shuffle in IAS ranks

Patna: The state government on Tuesday posted IAS officer T.N. Vindheshwari as finance secretary. The post had fallen vacant after Mihir Kumar Singh was relieved for central deputation.

Dayanidhan Pandey, joint secretary, finance, was promoted to additional secretary rank.

Tobacco war

Patna: Members of State Tobacco Control Coordination Committee reviewed the progress of implementation of Tobacco Control Programme on Tuesday. They decided to make Patna the model district for implementation of COTPA sections under the Tobacco Control Programme.

Case date

Patna: The single-judge high court bench of Jyoti Saran on Tuesday postponed the hearing of the case regarding the disqualification of four JDU MLAs to January 27.

Membership

Patna: A high court division bench of Justice Iqbal Ahmed Ansari and Justice Chakradhari Sharan Singh on Tuesday postponed the hearing of the case regarding restoration of the Assembly membership of four MLAs to Wednesday.

Petition

Patna: Deputy mayor Rupnarayan Mehta on Tuesday filed a complaint petition against seven persons, including mayor Afzal Imam, ward commissioner Vinod Kumar and Sanjay Kumar, in the special vigilance court in connection with gross financial irregularities in Patna Municipal Corporation.

Girls saved

Motihari: Police on Tuesday apprehended at least seven members of a gang belonging to a village under Malthana police station in Jalpaiguri district of Bengal and recovered six girls from their possession.

Bribery

Patna: The vigilance investigation bureau on Tuesday filed a chargesheet against former assistant engineer of planning development department (Bikramganj) in Gopalganj, Ravindra Kumar Singh, in the special vigilance court in connection with a bribery case.

Sentence

Patna: Additional district and sessions judge of Patna city civil court Kamrul Hoda on Tuesday sentenced one Ramesh Pandit to 10 years' rigorous imprisonment in a rape case.

Protest

Gopalganj: Members of Bajrang Dal, ABVP and different student organisations on Tuesday staged a demonstration against Gopalganj MP Janak Ram and MLA Ram Pravesh Rai and demanded their arrest. They had assembled near the collectorate and raised slogans against the public representatives.

Arrest

Gopalganj: Police on Tuesday arrested two criminals wanted in dozens of cases of loot, dacoity and abduction.

Superintendent of police P. Anil Kumar Singh said the criminals were nabbed during routine check. Police recovered a motorcycle, three cellphones, two pistols, a country-made pistol and 10 cartridges of 315 bore.