The ministers can get dropped from the guest list of several marriage ceremonies after getting additional security guards. For each minister, the hosts will have to make additional food arrangements for at least 10 security personnel then.
'Previously a couple of security guards accompanied us to marriage ceremonies. After we get extra cover, at least 10 policemen will be accompanying me. If five ministers turn up at a function, the host will be forced to make food arrangements for 55 persons. If it is a marriage ceremony the host will be more preoccupied with us than welcoming the barati (groom, his relatives and guests),” said a cabinet minister. Inviting VVIPs to private ceremonies is common in Patna. Guests often have to jostle with gun-toting securitymen for food. Now their numbers will be even larger,” said an official who is about to host a party for his kin’s marriage.
Several Bihar politicians are health freaks. One can spot 20 to 30 leaders indulging in brisk walking every morning at Sanjay Gandhi Biological Park or Gandhi Maidan. But quite a few of them opt out of their morning ritual in the marriage season because of several invitations. “Everybody wants to invite the local MLA. If the legislator does not appear the host never forgives him. The MLA might be forgiven for not appearing once in five years but never if he or she skips the marriage ceremony,” said an MLA, claiming that he had to attend about a dozen marriage ceremonies every evening. “The worst part is I have to eat in each one of them. Even a couple of morsels at each party means that I end up with stomach upset,” he said. It’s a price one has to pay for being people’s representatives.As the BJP’s mega party workers’ show is nearing, its leaders, particularly its ministers, are appearing edgy. On Wednesday, deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi and road construction minister Nand Kishore Yadav were seen inspecting Gandhi Maidan, the venue of the mega meet. As the contractor was explaining the arrangements being made through gestures, Yadav asked for the map. The contractor did not have any. “How can you plan a mega affair without a map?” asked Yadav. The BJP workers present there were amused. “The road construction minister needs a map to explain anything,” said the BJP worker.The Children Olympiad organised by the state human resource development (HRD) department saw most of the awards going to the children of private public schools. Children of the government schools felt cheated. They had reasons to feel so as the HRD department formed Kilkari to promote extra-curricular activities in government schools where children of the underprivileged sections go. “The children of private public schools have better training than us. There is no way we can compete with them,” said a frustrated participant of a government school. The department needs to do more for them.
