Candid sugarcane confession of CM
Chief minister Nitish Kumar’s reported statement that he was unaware of the minimum support price for sugarcane drew another round of flak from the BJP. he state BJP chief, Mangal Pandey, expressed surprise over the chief minister’s ignorance and demanded his resignation. “It is no surprise that sugarcane harvesting is yet to start and the minimum support price is yet to be declared,” Pandey said, adding that sugarcane is grown in 14 districts of the state and Nitish’s statement is an insult to farmers. The JD(U) has not reacted yet, but the party leaders appear surprised over the chief minister’s candid statement. “We call Nitish Kumar Mr Know-All. He never admits in public that he does not know something. Most of the times he acts as if he knows more than the experts. I wonder how he made this sort of a statement in public,” said a JD(U) leader. The Bihar chief minister has been rarely candid about his ignorance. This was one of them. Former Union minister Nagmani ended his silence alleging that Narendra Modi was whipping communal passions and was a threat to the integrity of the nation, much to the relief of the BJP. “As long as he was silent, I thought he would join our party,” said a senior BJP leader, stressing that Nagmani’s chances of joining the BJP was zero after criticising Modi. Nagmani is at present the state president of Rashtryawadi Congress Party, a marginal political outfit. A known party-hopper, speculation is rife over which party he would join this time. Nagmani has been in all the parties - the Congress, RJD, BJP, JD(U) and the LJP. “Political parties have become weary of him. He bargains too hard asserting that he is the leader of Koeris in Bihar. The claim is yet to be established,” said a senior politician.Gujarat on Dal leaders’ nerves
The JD(U) leaders appear to be alarmed over “Gujarat invading Bihar”. Not only a few Gujarat ministers visited Bihar to take stock of the iron collection drive from villages, the Gujarat Tourism Corporation had planned an interaction with reporters in Patna, which was later postponed. The fact that the BJP intends to enter every village on the pretext of collecting iron for the statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in Gujarat is getting on the JD(U) leaders’ nerves. “It’s practically an invasion,” said a JD(U) leader. Several IAS officers appear to be jittery over the misdemeanour of some child development project officers (CDPOs). A CDPO even charged an IAS officer with sexual harassment. “Many of these CDPOs are closely linked with powerful politicians and some of them are related with them. A kin of a BJP MP des not even bother to stand up when an IAS officer come to their office. They flaunt their close links with politicians,” said an IAS officer, declaring that many of their colleagues have even stopped taking a look at the work of CDPOs who are expected to run anganwadis. Even social welfare minister Praveen Amanullah had problems with a CDPO when she went to inspect an office. “The CDPO had powerful links and the minister could do nothing,” said the IAS officer.
