Lalu 'bribe' for Justice Katju

What connects former Supreme Court Justice Markandey Katju and RJD chief Lalu Prasad was revealed at a recent function attended by both.

Justice Katju revealed that the only ghoos (bribe) he ever took was from a man from Bihar who sent him sattu.

Lalu, who was present on the stage, was quick to point out that the former judge of the apex court should at least tell the crowd that it was he (Lalu) who had sent the sattu after Katju retired from the Supreme Court.

"But Justice Katju gave another advice to Lalu ji that I am sure the RJD chief did not like," remarked an RJD leader present at the occasion. "He asked Lalu to move over or take retirement and leave the state in the hands of Tej Pratap and Tejaswi. Without meddling in the portfolios of his sons, Laluji would feel uncomfortable."

Litti power

On the occasion of the birth anniversary of the late Karpoori Thakur, the RJD chief was telling his followers about the good old days when he was in the Opposition. Lalu recalled how he and other Opposition MLAs staged a nightlong dharna inside the Assembly against the government. "It was Keshav Prasad (an engineer with the state government and husband of former Union minister Kanti Singh) who brought us litti to eat," Lalu reminisced.

Kanti Singh, who was present at the event, was quick to add that it was she who had made those littis. "That is why I made you Union minister. Now let others make the litti," Lalu quipped, and asked another woman politician if she was prepared to make litti in the future. The woman nodded. "The conversation left us wondering if Lalu meant that the days of Kanti Singh as a politician were over," said an RJD leader.

Sushil advice

When chief minister Nitish Kumar took digs at his former deputy Sushil Kumar Modi questioning his authority for holding janata durbars, Sushil shot back declaring that he held janata durbars to get feedback from the masses about their problems. The senior BJP leader had an advice for Nitish: "Why does not Nitishji make Laluji an adviser like Prashant Kishor? It would give legal authority to Lalu for intervening in government work on a day to day basis."

Sharad insight

JDU president Sharad Yadav was candid enough to admit publicly that even his wife had begun to question his political acumen. "When the TVs started to show the results of the Bihar Assembly elections, they showed BJP leading. My wife told me I had lost my political touch because I was predicting a Grand Alliance victory. Luckily the tide turned and we won," he remarked at a function. "One wonders if Sharad ji would have been happy if his wife would have been correct," said a JDU leader, recalling that Sharad had not campaigned as much as Lalu and Nitish did.