Blue blood blues aimed at chief minister

When Abdul Bari Siddiqui was the Opposition leader in the Assembly during the JDU-BJP rule, he had remarked that chief minister Nitish Kumar preferred "blue blooded" officials for key posts. Nitish had denied the charge. However, now with the Grand Alliance in power, the "blue blooded" jibe comes from an RJD leader. "We have no objection to the police arresting Rocky Yadav. But what crime did his mother Manorama Devi commit? The chief minister is speaking about speedy trial in the case," fumed an RJD MLA alleging that the police had been less proactive when tasked with the arrest of builder Anil Singh and former BSEB former chairman Lalkeshwar and his wife Usha Sinha. "The police have been dragging their feet with no one trying to arrest Anil. In case of Lakeshwar, the police gave him enough time to go underground," the RJD MLA said.

Right under the nose

The BSEB scam has political circles in Patna questioning chief minister Nitish Kumar's feedback system. His rivals have not questioned Nitish's integrity but his way of functioning. "The epicentre of the fodder scam was in Ranchi, around 400km from Patna. The epicentre of the BSEB scam is in Patna, just 4km from the chief minister's office. However, he did not have a whiff of the scam happening right under his nose," remarked a JDU leader, stressing that the home department's intelligence branches were not functioning or didn't have the guts to speak in front of him. "One of the main reasons is Nitish's reluctance to hear anything against his hand-picked persons," the leader remarked.

One man and two posts

Ever since chief minister Nitish Kumar became the JDU national president, media persons in Delhi have been desperately seeking his views on several issues. However, they say getting access to the chief minister is extremely difficult. "When Sharad Yadav was the national president he was always available for a reaction," complained a journalist. Nitish had visited Delhi to attend a meeting of socialist leaders on October 17. "It's going to be tough for Nitish to perform as chief minister and the party's national president at the same time. But nearly all one-man parties have the same problem," explained a JDU leader.

The kurta and its cut

A JDU minister recently commented that Tejaswi's fashion sense does not rhyme with that of other RJD leaders. "RJD leaders wear long kurtas which go well below the their knees. Laluji's other son and health minister Tej Pratap sticks to the long kurta as well. However, Tejaswi's kurtas are different and end well above the knees," the minister said, insisting that Tejaswi was "different" from other RJD leaders.

Tejaswi beats Nitish

During the twitter rant between Union HRD minister Smriti Irani and Bihar's education minister Ashok Choudhary, it was deputy chief minister Tejaswi who jumped in and drew media attention. "Nitish Kumar should learn how to use social media from Tejaswi. He reacts instantly. On the other hand, Nitish's Twitter and Facebook accounts lie inactive for days. He seldom reacts to national and state issues on social media," remarked a RJD minister.