Chief minister Nitish Kumar and Union human resource development minister Kapil Sibal have a chat at the foundation stone-laying ceremony of IIT-Patna on Tuesday. Picture by Deepak Kumar

Patna, April 19: It wasn’t quite T20 stuff, but the new venue of IIT Patna today turned into a political pitch on which Nitish Kumar and Kapil Sibal engaged in a verbal duel more suited for classic Test cricket.

Chief minister Nitish rose first and began by showering praise on Sibal, the Union human resource development minister. “Sibal saheb enjoys a special place in the heart of the Bihar people for he first became MP from the state. The state’s people have greater expectations from him (Sibal) as they treat him as their own,” Nitish said at the foundation stone laying ceremony at the proposed IIT campus in Bihta, 40km from here.

The chief minister continued with his words of praise: “You (Sibal) are special to the budding youths of India for you have given pioneering guidelines in the education sector.”

Sibal broke into a smile.

But the punch was yet to come. A smile on his face and his hands folded, Nitish turned towards his guest and said: “The chief minister from a poor state is folding his hands before you for special category status to Bihar. Kindly give our state special category status.”

Those present in the audience and even on the dais thought that Nitish had bowled Sibal with his deceptive googly. But the minister, among the top legal eagles in the country, was up to the challenge.

“You (Nitish) should have been a top class lawyer in the Supreme Court. The manner in which you argue for your cause will make even skilful lawyers shy,” Sibal began.

The charge followed. “Bihar had never had it so good. Within a short span of three to four years, the Manmohan Singh-led UPA has given to it (Bihar) more than what it had got from the Centre in the preceding sixty years,” Sibal countered.

Having raised the issue of special status — a subject that he has been harping on, Nitish turned his attention to the other demand close to his heart — the central university which Bihar has been sanctioned.

The Centre is believed to have said the central university will be located in Patna. Even the vice-chancellor-designate, Janak Pandey, has recommended that it be situated in Bihar capital.

But Nitish wants to relocate the university to Motihari — the East Champaran district headquarters in north Bihar.

Nitish put up a spirited defence of his proposal. “Motihari has been the Karmbhoomi of Bapu Gandhi. It was from Champaran that Bapu had launched the struggle to free India from British rule. Which place other than Motihari can fit the bill for the central university?”

Nitish again folded his hands in appeal as the minister watched. “Kindly allow the central university to come up at Motihari. I promise that I will arrange the land and lay a nice road which will allow the faculty members to commute between Patna and Motihari within two to three hours,” Nitish said. Motihari is about 150km from Patna.

Nitish’s argument made Sibal smile once again. “Nitishji, I do not want to politicise the central universities. They (central universities) are the centres of excellence and supposed to produce the best human resource. Only land and roads are not sufficient to have central universities. They need excellent faculties, good ambience and logistics to attract the faculties,” the minister said.

Sibal acknowledged Nitish’s governance record but added a rider. “Bihar has been progressing under your rule. But it needs to progress more to have better institutions.”