Lalu ice-breaker for Nitish

The political grapevine reports that RJD chief Lalu Prasad has invited chief minister Nitish Kumar over on January 14 for Makar Sankranti. Every year, Lalu hosts a Makar Sankranti do and treats his guests to the traditional fare of the festival - dahi (curd), chura (beaten rice) and tilkut (a sesame-based sweet). Nitish and Lalu have not been seen together for a while and even their efforts to take on Narendra Modi in the PM's turf, Varanasi, is not a combined affair. An RJD leader said: "This is actually Laluji's dinner diplomacy to break the ice. We desperately need the two to be seen together after the war of words between the two allies."

Dinner diplomacy has not always worked in Bihar. "After the hung Assembly in the 2005 February polls, efforts were made to get Nitish and Ram Vilas Paswan - then in rival NDA and UPA camps respectively - to dine together and pave the way for government formation. The two came to an MLA's house, had their food and exchanged pleasantries. But nothing else happened," said a former minister.

His story, history

Congress leaders recently took note of the unflattering account of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's authoritarianism on the state government website. But a protesting Congress seemed assured that it would be resolved soon, and the reference to Indira's ill-treatment of Lok Nayak Jayaprakash Narayan after imposition of the Emergency omitted out. "Nitishji is not adverse to changing history. He after all found a birthday for Emperor Asoka, something which even great historians have failed to do. History is told according to political convenience," said the Congress leader, referring to the government's arbitrary decision in December to celebrate Asoka's birthday on April 14 every year.

Power artistes

The governor's quota in the Legislative Council - where a dozen seats are meant for artistes, writers and social workers - has always been under scrutiny. Over the past two decades politicians proclaiming to be social workers have filled those seats. There are a few genuine cases too, like teacher Ram Vachhan Rai who was nominated under this quota last year. "But people like minister Lallan Singh and former minister Javed Iqbal Ansari have been nominated in this quota," said a senior JDU leader, pointing out that in most cases the seats are used to accommodate politicians who have either failed to get elected or have switched sides.