Addiction same, attitude varies

Recalling the RJD days while tabling his department’s budget, health minister Ashwini Kumar Choubey said the leader of the House then used to chew khaini (tobacco) inside the Assembly. Immediately an MLA murmured: 'Even the present one does.”ormer chief minister and the RJD chief, Lalu Prasad, chewed in public inside the House and in public functions. But the present incumbent, Nitish Kumar, has been very 'secretive”about his addiction to khaini. 'He disappears from meetings and returns after half an hour. Only those aware of his habit understand he went on a khaini break,”a senior JD(U) leader said, insisting that people would never see their leader doing 'bad things”in public.

Stop there

A group of BJP and JD(U) MLAs like Vinod Narayan Jha, Manjit Kumar Singh and Izhar Ahmad appear to have taken upon themselves the task of filling up the large gap between the ruling and the Opposition MLAs by asking the government unpleasant questions and grilling ministers if their replies are unsatisfactory. “It is a tough task, especially when Speaker Uday Narain Choudhary is in the chair. When the minister starts fumbling, Choudhary abruptly declares that the MLA concerned is santusht (satisfied) with the answer of the minister. It is a clear indication that we should go no further or else we will be charged with trying to help the Opposition,” said an NDA leader.

Invitation at last

For those waiting for an invitation from the RJD chief, Lalu Prasad, to attend his daughter Hema's marriage, there is good news. The invitation has come through an email sent by the party's state unit. The marriage is on March 11. “But the venue remains the same — 23, Tughlak Marg, New Delhi. The invitation through email means that he is just going through the formalities. We are actually not invited. But Laluji has at least remembered to go through the formality,” said an RJD leader, stressing that most of the email invitees would not be going. “It is an open secret how many of our followers have an email account,” he added.

Sloppy session

The budget session of the Assembly is proving to be a sloppy show. The traditional annual report card and booklets highlighting the ministers’ speech did a vanishing act this session. When the government tabled its ambitious agriculture roadmap, several legislators did not get its copy. The most surprising was the absence of the environment and forests department officers in the officers’ gallery when the department’s budget was being passed in the House. “This is perhaps the first time that officials of a department were absent on the day their department’s budget was passed. Officials are supposed to be in the officers’ gallery to help the minister concerned if a question is raised inside the House,”a senior officer in the Assembly secretariat said. A seasoned politician said either the government was slack or was taking everything for granted.