The National Security Guards (NSG) is the most sought-after security cover by politicians. In power, they are easier to handle. However, outside power, the cover can have its drawback. In power, the RJD chief never had difficulty in adjusting the NSG commandos in comfortable accommodation. owever, during the Forbesganj March, RJD followers were in a fix over accommodating NSG guards in Purnea where Lalu and his followers made a night halt before proceeding to Forbesganj. He and his close followers were staying in AC rooms at the local circuit house. A close associate of the RJD chief asked the NSG commandoes to sleep on the verandah of the circuit house. The NSG commandoes refused, stressing that they were carrying arms and ammunition which might be stolen if they slept on the verandah. “We will either sleep in an AC room or remain awake during the night beneath a tree,” an NSG commando told a senior RJD leader. Ultimately, the RJD leaders gave in and former Union minister Prem Gupta was asked to share former minister Jai Prakash Narayan Yadav's room, while the guards were accommodated in Gupta’s AC room. All major functions, government and non-government, are held in three posh hotels in the state capital. However, on Monday, a Tamil Nadu cadre IAS officer was candid about the ground realities of availability of hotels in Patna and their standards. “This is supposed to be the best hotel in Patna - the number 1 hotel. In Chennai, it would not even qualify for number 10 in the city. An international meet is being organised here. It does not qualify to even hold a national meet in Chennai,” the IAS officer told the audience. Most of the audience agreed to his views. “For the rates charged in Patna, the services and faculties provided to customers are dismal. Let alone a metro like Chennai, even Bhubaneswar and Ranchi have better hotel facilities,” remarked a participant, wondering why the state government has not been able to lure the big names in hospitality industry though Patna has become a happening city. A major embarrassment for the NDA government was avoided, thanks to alert eyes of hotel employees where a function was being held. The minister, who was the chief guest of the show, went to use the washroom midway through the function. He stepped inside the hotel’s toilet. A hotel employee rushed behind him to tell him that he was in the wrong one and had actually stepped into a “she” and not a “he”. The embarrassed minister rushed out only to scold his staff members for not warning him. “God knows what would have happened if we had heard a scream from the toilet with so many mediapersons around,” said a hotel employee. The leader of the BJP in the state legislative council Ganga Prasad is not called the evergreen leader of BJP for nothing. He recently started reciting couplets and poetry at a function in the presence of chief minister Nitish Kumar. It prompted the chief minister to remark that the older Ganga Babu became, the younger his heart became. There is speculation about Ganga Babu’s age and it varies between 65 and 78, with claims that he keeps his hair jet black. “He is the Dev Anand of Bihar BJP refusing to age,” remarked a senior BJP leader.
Monday, 22 December 2025
