Rows of empty chairs at chief minister Nitish Kumar’s janata darbar at 1 Aney Marg in Patna on Monday. Picture by Deepak Kumar

Patna, June 20: The heavy rain that lashed Patna over the past couple of days threw a wet blanket on chief minister Nitish Kumar’s janata darbar.

Only 389 applicants turned up for the monthly meet at the chief minister’s official residence at 1 Aney Marg. This is by far the lowest turnout since 2007.

Generally, around 2,000 applicants turn up for the chief minister’s janata darbar every Monday.

However, today, of the thousands of chairs put out for visitors, only a few were occupied. The usual hurly-burly was reduced to a hush.

The chief minister started to meet the applicants sharp at 10am. By 11.45am, there was hardly anyone left. Usually, the darbar goes on till the evening.

Nitish was supposed to host a media interaction at 2pm. However, he briefed the journalists by 12noon.

Soon after Nitish was done with meeting the complaints, he casually spoke to his secretaries.

He said: “Very few have turned up today for the darbar. Look at the time. No applicants are left. It reminds me of 2007, when only 70 applicants had turned up for the darbar. At that time, too, the issues were the same. Roads, electricity and water are still major concerns for residents. I think the low turnout is because of the rain. It has been pouring heavily for quite some time now.”

The state capital recorded 10.2mm rainfall today.

Most of the ministers and officials agreed with Nitish.

Ministers and their secretaries sat idle, as there were hardly any applicants at their tables. A casual mood prevailed as most of the ministers whiled away their time chatting with their secretaries and principal secretaries. Others were seen sending text messages or playing games on their mobiles.

On other darbar days, the ministers are so busy that they hardly get time to share a word with the journalists.

Only four complainants came to road construction minister Nand Kishore Yadav’s table.

On being asked the reason for less number of applicants, Yadav said: “I believe it is because of the rain. It has been pouring since yesterday. People must have decided to remain home and avoid any snarls and troubles on the road.”

Food and consumer protection minister Shyam Rajak differed slightly.

He claimed the low turnout could be because most of the problems have already been solved. However, he, too, admitted the rain has played a spoilsport.

“I must say the reason for the low turnout is that problems of a number of people have already been solved. However, heavy rain for the past day-and-a half is also a factor. In monsoon, people do not want to venture out, as they fear they will get fever if they get wet,” said the minister.