The indifferent attitude of chief minister’s office (CMO) towards letters has annoyed several senior leaders in and outside the state. The list includes Nagaland Governor Nikhil Kumar, a former Congress MP from Aurangabad.
Nikhil Babu, as he is called in the state’s political circles, wrote a letter to chief minister Nitish Kumar suggesting measures for modernising Patna way back on February 12, 2009 when he was an MP. The CMO did not take notice of it. Nikhil made a courtesy call to the chief minister in the wake of his mother’s death last year and reminded Nitish about his letter. But Nitish virtually feigned ignorance, saying that the letter had not been brought to his notice. Nitish, according to sources, assured the Nagaland governor to find the letter out and reply to him. But more than a year after, the governor is yet to hear from the chief minister. The Leader of Opposition, Abdul Bari Siddqui, raised the issue in the budget session. Nitish announced in the House that he would evolve a mechanism in his office for replying to letters. But the CMO, apparently, has not listened to the chief minister so far.
The visitors at the Sanjay Gandhi Biological Park were happy to see the zoo management installing water purifiers in its various nooks and corners. The morning-walkers and other visitors obviously expected that they would get pure water to drink when they were thirsty, particularly during the hot spell. But most of the water sets in the zoo were out of order when the mercury column soared beyond 40°C. “We thought these nice purifiers will quench our thirst, but they are merely showpieces now,” said a morning-walker bathed in sweat. He hurried towards an eatery to buy a bottle of water paying Rs 15. Will the zoo management do something to repair the sets when they are needed the most? The delay in re-filling the 12 State Legislative Council seats is giving anxious moments to several JD(U) and the BJP leaders expecting re-nomination. The primary reason for anxiety is the air-conditioned bungalows they are occupying for the past six years or more. “In case I ail to get re-nomination, I will lose my house at the height of the summer. It is hard to get uch a house on rent,” said one among hem. Another said: “The AC-fitted furnished house is the biggest advantage of becoming a Member of Legislative Council. I will soon turn homeless if I fail to get re-nominated.” he hiccups in the relationship between the JD(U) and the BJP are believed to be the reason for the delay on these seats. Incidentally, the outgoing legislators cutting across the BJP and the D(U) have a common wish: Their respective parties should normalise their relationship as soon as possible to extend their tenure. The RJD boss, Lalu Prasad, has announced to embark on a five-day march from Motihari to Gaya from June 12 to pressurise the Nitish Kumar-led state government to set up the Central University of Bihar’s campus at both Motihari and Gaya, as proposed by Union human resource development minister Kapil Sibal. But senior RJD leaders are hardly convinced that their boss’s venture would add anything substantially to the RJD’s depleted vote bank. “See, gone are the days of rhetoric. Laluji will have to come out with a concrete plan to make inroads into the Muslim and Extremely Backward Castes vote bank that drifted to the JD(U),” said a senior RJD leader, describing Lalu’s failure to evolve an effective strategy to increase the party’s vote bank as the reason for three of the RJD MPs playing truant at the party’s national executive meet recently.
