Funny petition against deputy chief minister

Some of the BJP leaders found the RJD’s memorandum to Governor Devanand Konwar seeking a probe into the role of deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi in acquiring land for industry at Forbesganj funny. The Lalu Prasad-led party had earlier petitioned the governor against Modi in connection with the murder of the Purnea MLA, Rajkishore Keshari. The governor has asked the chief secretary and the director-general of police to make inquiries about the firing incident at Forbesganj. But it is ironical that Modi’s name should come to the governor’s house in petitions. Modi openly criticised the governor for allegedly sitting on bills. The governor signed seven bills after that but his office came out with a statement criticising Modi. The deputy chief minister did not dare to retort to the lame excuse of the governor that the process of signing the bills got delayed because he was out of Patna. The governor is entitled to approve bills even from hell, let alone another part of the country,” a senior BJP leader said.

Name shake

Former law minister Shakeel Ahmad Khan appears to love to get names wrong, especially of Shahnawaz Hussain — the Muslim face of the BJP. Recently, he added the titles of Khan and Ahmad to the name of Shahnawaz. Shakeel got his name right in the third go. The BJP leaders pointed out that Shakeel Sahib suffers from memory loss. Old-timers recalled that the former minister had always been generous in his criticism of Shahnawaz when he was a Union minister in the NDA regime. “Shakeel Sahib was then the power minister of Bihar. He got on very well with the Union minister for power, who hailed from Shiv Sena. But he never had a kind word to say about Shahnawaz,” a leader of the RJD said.

Clicks prick

Getting clicked by media lensmen seems to be dangerous for police personnel. A junior officer was showcaused because his photo appeared with a report in a daily. Incidentally, a number of pictures of the senior officer who showcaused the cop appear with reports criticising the police. There is resentment among the junior police officers over the move. “A showcause just because one is visible in a newspaper has no justification,” a junior officer said.

MS word copy-paste

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s directive to his ministers to declare their assets has made the JD(U) happy. “The Bihar ministers did it months ago,” the party’s spokesperson Sanjay Singh said, declaring that it was another step of chief minister Nitish Kumar being imitated by the Union government. The Congress leaders are angry over the statements like their government at the Centre was imitating the Nitish Kumar government. “Nitish should ask his ministers how their wealth has increased so rapidly,” a senior Congress leader said. “If Manmohan Singh were asked to do the same thing, the Congress would be in for a greater shock. After all, it is the UPA who patronised the likes of A. Raja, Madhu Koda and Suresh Kalmadi,” a JD(U) leader said.