Noisy new faces

Former BJP MLC Raj Kishore Singh has been at the forefront in criticising the leaders of his earlier party. He recently said the BJP’s October 27 Hunkar rally was actually a “chitkar rally” (rally to scream) because the party leaders had lost their ministerial berths. nother BJP-turned-JD(U) leader threatened to stop Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi from entering Bihar, claiming that his visit would trigger communal divide in the state. The BJP leaders appear to be amused. “A new entrant in any party speaks the most. He/she makes the maximum noise. It is their compulsion. They have to prove their loyalty to their new leaders,” said a former BJP minister, recalling that even during the Lalu era, party leaders who left him were the loudest in proclaiming that they would finish him off. “Many of them rejoined Lalu,” the BJP leader said. Another reason for them to make so much noise is the fact that they are in the race for the vacant seats in the Bihar Legislative Council, another leader said.

Split secret

The RJD chief, Lalu Prasad, has found out the “cause” behind the BJP-JD(U) split. “At the time of marriage, the two parties forgot to tell each other their gotras (genus). After divorce, the two got engaged in telling each other their gotras. The BJP leaders are saying that they are communal and the JD(U) is saying it is secular. Gotras should be told to each other before marriages,” he said at an RJD meeting.

Crowd poser

A JD(U) MLA while talking to his BJP friend was boasting about the crowd coming to party meetings held at the block-level. “The crowd turnout is at least five times higher than your party’s,” the JD(U) MLA claimed, joking that the BJP meetings wore a deserted look. The BJP MLA retorted that the JD(U) MLA was right. “Lesser crowd means that there is no fighting among the party workers at the meeting.” The JD(U) meetings have ended in verbal duels between two factions on several occasions, forcing the leaders on the stage to leave the venue in a huff. The JD(U) leaders attributed the phenomenon to “over enthusiasm”. “We hope the JD(U) workers’ over-enthusiasm continues in elections and they fight it in a similar manner,” said the BJP MLA in a lighter vein.

Opportunity to reform

Dissident JD(U) MP Puranmasi Ram attacked chief minister Nitish Kumar again, calling him Hitler. Puranmasi, along with two MPs Jai Narayan Nishad and Mangani Lal Mandal, have been getting away with snide remarks against Nitish. “We give our leaders time to reform themselves. If they do not, we take action,” said the state party chief, Bashishtha Narayan Singh. The JD(U) leaders pointed out that two MPs — Rajiv Ranjan alias Lallan Singh and Sushil Singh — reformed themselves. “They turned loyal to Nitish just before the anti-defection clause was to be evoked,” said a JD(U) office-bearer. But Puranmasi, Nishad and Mandal have continued with the tirade against Nitish and there is little hope of reformation. They have made it clear that they would not contest on JD(U) tickets in the next Lok Sabha polls.