Trouble from within for Baba snub

The RJD chief Lalu Prasad is facing resistance within his party for backing the Centre’s action against Baba Ramdev. He drew flak from the party MLC Nawal Kishore Yadav for supporting the Union government’s stance on Ramdev. awal Kishore said it appeared that the party was in favour of those who had black money and the police atrocity against women and children. He also demanded a meeting of the national executive to discuss the matter. This is not the first public utterance of the MLC against Lalu. A couple of months ago, he questioned the wisdom of Lalu to name the party headquarters in Delhi after Rabri. “Nawal is looking for greener pastures. It is not for nothing that he is sharing the stage with the chief minister. These types of comments indicate that the deal between Nawal and the ruling party has been struck and he can walk out of the party any day,” a senior RJD leader said.

Cold to chill water wish

A huge water cooler installed near the entrance of the BJP office is a welcome sight for the party workers, especially when the summer heat is on. But their wish for a cool sip evaporates soon because the cooler, donated by a private foundation around a decade ago, is defunct. The huge water cooler is just a show, muttered a party worker. “There has been no attempt to repair the cooler. The fact that the party has moved ahead from an opposition party to a ruling party has not changed the fate of the water cooler,” said another party worker, stressing that it reflected the indifferent attitude of the party towards dealing with problems. A section of the party workers also resented a few ministers coming to the office with an attendant carrying chilled mineral water bottles.

No politics, please

A teacher drew flak at the janata darbar of the Patna district magistrate because his petition was written on the letterhead of a political party. “Do you think that I will be influenced by the letter pad?” the DM asked. The teacher remained silent. The letterheads of MPs, MLAs and political parties are often used for petitions to officials. “There is a belief that it adds weight to the petition. But now politicians appear to have lost their clout on the officials,” an onlooker said. Seasoned petitioners said petitions on letterheads of politicians still worked. “The only thing is it should be of the right politician and the leader should follow it up with a telephone call,” one of hem said.

The heat is on

Officers were seen sweating in the chief minister’s janata darbar last Monday as they attended hundreds of petitioners amid high temperature. With the chief minister maintaining keeping a tab on all of them, the officers remained glued to their work. The fans did little to bring relief. When the chief minister took a break to address the reporters, the officers were relieved. “Now I can rush to my home, lie down in an AC room and come back before the chief minister returns,” a senior police officer said. He hoped the chief minister’s interaction with the reporters to continue long because of discussions on his upcoming China.