Food for thought from CM house

During his janata darbar, chief minister Nitish Kumar takes a lunch break. The food comes from the first floor of 1 Aney Marg, the area used by the chief minister and his family members. The chief minister makes a clear distinction between the food coming from the kitchen of his house on the first floor and what is prepared in the kitchen on the ground floor. Any eatable prepared in the ground floor kitchen is never sent upstairs. It is usually distributed among the visitors downstairs,” said an official at the janata darbar. He remarked that the chief minister does not even accept food which is bought from the market. Once a minister brought litchi for the chief minister. Nitish asked the minister if he owned a litchi tree or garden. When he found that the fruits were actually purchased from the market he distributed them among his employees,” an official at the chief minister’s residence said.

Powerful relatives

Deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi recently disowned a relative who has allegedly occupied the property belonging to the granddaughter of legendary Hindi poet Ramdhari Singh Dinkar. Modi said that the aggrieved party should complain to the police against his relative. “The next logical action of the deputy chief minister should have been to call up the police and ask them to take action against the relative who was misusing his name,” said a senior RJD leader. Kin of politicians have been in news for wrong reasons in Bihar politics. The name of a brother-in-law of a former chief minister figured in a case of illegal confinement of a woman. During the Lalu-Rabri era, both Sadhu Yadav and Subhash Yadav were extremely powerful. “It’s only when a politician allows his or her relatives to function like extra-constitutional authorities that these things happen,” said a senior police officer while pointing out that the present chief minister appears to have given a clear message to his relatives to not indulge in such activities.

Party and the man

Political circles in Patna are tickled by the statement of dissident JD (U) MLC Prem Kumar Mani that “Nitish Kumar is not above the party”. “For the past two decades, Bihar is run by single-leader parties - Nitish, Lalu and Paswan. The party which they run obeys their command,” said a senior JD (U) leader. Lalu Prasad wished to remain the RJD president for life and his followers amended the party rule that no person should hold the post of party president for more than two terms. Nitish Kumar wanted George Fernandes replaced by Sharad Yadav as JD (U) national president. Despite his stature, Fernandes had to vacate the post. “The best of course is Paswan’s LJP. He makes no pretensions about internal democracy and keeps his brothers and kin on key posts. “Those who talk about internal democracy in these three parties are fooling themselves,” said the JD (U) leader.

Minister’s dilemma

BJP minister Giriraj Singh found himself in a fix during a visit to his home district Lakhisarai. The crime the region has soared and even party workers are complaining about ineffective policing. Giriraj also mumbled about the police not doing their work properly but realised hat it would amount to criticising a government of which he is a part. “The police need to e more active,” he told mediapersons. “There are moments when a minister finds it ifficult to vent his rustration,” said one of his followers.