The best and worst 

Patna’s political circles are agog discussing the “best and worst” among Union ministers who visited Bihar in the name of assessing the flood situation in the state. “The worst tag goes to Union ministers Ravi Shankar Prasad and Rajiv Pratap Rudy, who came, got themselves photographed with flood victims and caught the next flight back to Delhi,” said a Congress MLA.

Among the “best”, Union minister Ram Kripal Yadav appears to have gained the admiration of legislators cutting across party lines, especially from RJD MLAs. 

“Ram Kripal is always a man of the masses,” said a senior RJD MLA. “He stayed in his constituency and reached out to the flood victims and tried to help them as much as possible. The best part is he didn’t play the blame game. It is no wonder that the state government chickened out soon after he threatened to sit on a dharna for not releasing water to the canals in drought-hit areas.” The RJD legislators do realise that Ram Kripal’s good work this will only hurt the dream of their leader Lalu Prasad, who wants to avenge the defeat of his daughter Misa Bharti from Patliputra Lok Sabha seat in the last parliamentary polls at the hands of Ram Kripal. 

Data & aata

Lalu Prasad's recent “data is cheaper than aata (wheat)” quip in connection with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's photograph appearing on a Reliance Jio advertisement has set tongues wagging that the RJD chief — who has been uncharacteristically subdued lately — is getting back to old form. “More than a decade ago he mocked information technology by saying ‘Ye IT-YT kya hai’, but as soon as he got his first daughter Misa Bharti married to an IT expert he said, ‘IT-YT kuch kuch hota hai’. Today Lalu is on Facebook and Twitter. He resists any new development and later gives up,” said an RJD leader, hastening to add that Lalu's remark was more against Modi than technical innovations. 

Lone ranger Bulo

RJD MP Bulo Mandal does not seem to have support within his party for his “Tejashwi-as-CM” campaign. Even RJD chief Lalu Prasad refused to comment on it. “Laluji may be wanting Bulo Mandal's campaign to succeed, but right now it will be politically incorrect to upset the alliance with Nitish Kumar at this age. Most RJD MLAs are worried over the possibility of facing the next elections without the alliance. What is interesting is the MLAs are more comfortable with Nitish Kumar as CM than Tejashwi Yadav,” said an RJD MLA during a private conversation.

Elusive as ever 

Health minister Tej Pratap is proving to be as elusive as ever when it comes to attending functions as chief guest. 
On Sunday, he did not turn up at a function organised by the Bihar chapter of Indian Dental Association. As the organisers 
announced that the minister would be coming, a reporter managed to speak to one of his associates. He found out that Tej Pratap was sleeping and would not attend the function. “He does not even come to events where the chief minister is present,” said a doctor who did not want to be identified. “His failure to attend functions is becoming a rule rather an exception.”