hief minister Nitish Kumar believes in getting the “true value” from his old time rivals. When asked about defectors in a news conference, he pointed towards two leaders present in the state party office — former Lalu Prasad loyalist and now food and consumer protection minister Shyam Rajak and Member of Legislative Council Sanjay Singh, once the voice of LJP chief. “They made all sorts of charges against me when they were in the opposition. But after they have joined the JD(U), they are busy doing productive work,” Nitish said, adding that he would never stop any politician of other parties from joining the JD(U). few JD(U) leaders worried over the defectors joining the party in large numbers, were not convinced. “Perhaps he should bring in barey bhai (Lalu) within the party fold and try to get him to do some productive work,” said a muffled leader.hief minister Nitish Kumar wants his rival Lalu Prasad to hit the streets again. “But he is like a non-resident Indian and hardly stays in Bihar. He should hit the roads and identify our mistakes. I shall be happy if he points out my government’s failure,” Nitish said. Unfortunately, his barey bhai (Lalu) has not shown any interest in fighting it out on the streets so far. When asked to react on Nitish’s Seva Yatra, Lalu looked weary. “The chief minister should go to villages to learn about ground realties,” Lalu said. Political experts are of the view that an active Lalu helps Nitish more than an inactive Lalu. “Nitish needs to keep the ghost of Lalu-Rabri regime alive. He should be worried over Lalu staying away from Bihar and needs to do something to provoke Laluji and bring him back to the state,” a senior Congress leader said.ealth minister Ashwini Kumar Choubey created ripples in Bihar when he announced a special gift for babies born at 11.11am on November 11, but hardly anybody took him seriously. “Choubey has a habit of putting the government in a tight position. During the NDA I, he announced a park near Gandhi Park would be named after Deen Dayal Upadhyay. The chief minister had earlier said the same park would be named after freedom fighter Peer Ali. Choubey recently declared that doctors absent from duty would be pardoned. But his department ignored his statement and went on to cut salaries of the truant medics. As the urban development minister in his earlier stint, Choubey had made outrageous statements like turning Patna into Paris,” a BJP minister said, wondering if anybody took the health minister seriously. JD(U) Member of Legislative Council (MLC) was waiting at the airport with a yellow rose to welcome the chief minister after his first leg of Seva was over. A guard took the rose from the MLC for security check. The amazed MLC gave the rose. The securityman plucked out the thorns in the stems. “You should not give a rose with thorns to the chief minister,” he said, giving back the rose. “The securityman did a big favour to the MLC and saved the chief minister from hurting his fingers. One should be careful while giving flowers,” said another JD(U) leader, recalling that a prominent leader of Bihar was allergic to marigold. “But everybody gave him marigold,” he added.Patna: An officer of Kotwali police station allegedly assaulted a journalist of a vernacular daily on Monday. ity central superintendent of police Shivdeep Lande has directed Kotwali police station house officer Aman Kumar to order the accused policeman to report to him within 24 hours.Patna: Ravi Ranjan, accused of teasing of a college girl at the Income Tax roundabout last month, surrendered in the sessions court on Monday.Patna: A complaint was filed at the chief judicial magistrate court on Monday against Muzaffarpur Institute of Technology physics lecturer R.P. Singh and his son Raushan accusing them of resorting to unfair mean in exams.Patna: A youth, Sanjay Kumar, was arrested at Gandhi Maidan on Monday for allegedly posing as a software engineer and duping people.Patna: Two narcotics dealers were arrested and brown sugar worth Rs 2 crore was seized from them in Rohtas district on Monday.Gaya: Six armed criminals on Monday looted Rs 4.24 lakh from Madhya Bihar Gramin Bank Teusa in Teusa village under Atri police station.Police said investigations had begun though no one was arrested.
Monday, 19 May 2025
