Patna, Nov. 25: Lalu Prasad would throw boisterous private parties to celebrate anniversaries in power, Nitish Kumar presents public reports. Lalu would banter on about politics, Nitish debates policy. No invectives against political opponents, no trumpet blowing for the JD(U) or the NDA, no girded-loin gauntlet-throwing, which is often the signature of such events.

There wasn’t a hint today — not even at his informal luncheon table following the presentation of his sixth annual achievement paper — that baloney was welcome on the premises of Samvad, the chief minister’s secretariat-cum-conference hall abutting his official residence. No banners or posters, no flagwaggery, no sloganeers rented to put out their vocal chords in the service of the leader, no litter of garlands smashed under stampeding feet.

Nitish arrived, commissar-like, at the appointed hour. The hall had already filled out. The Assembled cabinet stood up on the dais as he made his way to the centrestage. A hush fell, and following a few preliminaries, the report, titled “Development with Justice”, was unveiled for release.

“Much of what we do is a continuity from previous years,” Nitish said in his clipped introduction. “But this is a summary of what we have been able to do.”

He wasn’t about to pour praise on his own work. That task he had dexterously handed to his deputy Sushil Modi, whose claim it was that Bihar was the only state in which the government presents a yearly balancesheet of work done.

“I sometimes wonder what is achievable in the short span of a year,” Modi said, “but we have been able to present these reports to you year after year and I am myself surprised at the work done when we put it all together.”

An official whispered helpfully on the sidelines that should anyone be bothered to check, the report card had become fatter each successive year. “We work very hard on it, he makes us work very hard.”

Nitish himself was unprepared to accept any challenge to his government’s work ethic. “It is easy to make fun of what we have set out to do,” he remarked at one stage, rather unprovoked. “But the work done and the agenda adopted lies before you, that is what we have committed ourselves to. I am not going to be deterred from this.”

He squared up to probing questions, especially on the tardy progress in Bihar’s infrastructure building. “There are problems, there will be obstacles,” he said responding to a question on persisting power deficiency. “I am not saying there are no problems, but we are here to deal with that, it is our job to look for solutions and that is what we are doing.”

He referred specifically to difficulties in acquiring land for the stalled Nabinagar power project and said: “Land is a sensitive issue and we will have to sort that out carefully. There has been some progress, but I am not going to force anything where land is concerned, I do not want to sort out problems by creating bigger ones.”

To a related question on how he expected big industry to come to Bihar when there wasn’t enough power to dispense, Nitish sharply retorted: “Name me one industry that has not come here because of shortage of power. We are ready to give power, we will buy power and give it to industry if it comes, but the real issue is not that. The real issue is that industry has no incentive to come to Bihar. Grant our long-standing demand of special status to the state and then see how big industry comes. But the problem is Bihar has been and is being unfairly treated, there are no incentives we can give to industry.”

The chief minister found ready support on his plea. “He is right to complain about the denial of special status,” said O.P. Sah, president of the Bihar Chamber of Commerce. “Speaking for industry, I can say the state government has done everything in its power, and the intentions are right, which is why we remain bullish on Nitish Kumar and support the demand for special status.”

But few, on the evidence of today, are as bullish on Nitish as Nitish himself. Someone, mid-way through his interaction with journalists, framed a question poorly and made a combative query on anti-corruption claims made by the government. Nitish retorted, almost stung: “I have never made claims, I have only put before you what we have been able to do and I have never shied away from what we have not been able to do, so do not say we claimed this or that. The kind of transparency and anti-corruption measures we have put in place and the speed with which we have done is before you. I do not think such measures exist anywhere else in India.”

Even so, he was prepared to accept there is a long way to go. “Why else am I doing these yatras (referring to the ongoing Seva Yatra)? That is where I get my feedback and ideas, and those are what we are trying to implement. There is no doubt there is a lot of work left yet, where is the debate on that?”