No sticking necks out in time of political crisis

Chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi has distributed four-five portfolios among his existing ministers. He has retained 18 for himself. But amid the political turmoil, the officials concerned are not too bothered about listening to the department bosses. Their contention: how long would these ministers be in power.

Bhim Singh is right now holding the industry and road construction portfolios. Recently, during a review of the road construction department's performance, he declared projects would have to be hurried up 'as long he was there'. An official remarked: 'God knows how long he will be here.' The art, culture and youth affairs minister, Vinay Bihari, too, complained of not getting files on the ambitious Patna Museum - a dream project of Nitish Kumar. Manjhi supporters have alleged huge financial irregularities in the project. But the mood in the secretariat is no one wants to stick his neck out in the time of political instability. 'If there is a change of guard, one may have to face the ire of the new political boss,' said an official. Other officials said the ministers should be grateful that they were at least present when called. 'In Delhi, officials stop sending files to their respective ministers six months before polls,' said one of them.

Familiar lines

Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad have started accusing the BJP and Jitan Ram Manjhi of promoting horse-trading as the governor gave the chief minister a chance to prove his majority on the floor of the House on February 20. Old-timers recall that the lines heard now sound familiar. 'Only the players have swapped places. In 2000, when Nitish Kumar took oath as chief minister without a majority, Congress MLAs were virtually held hostage in an upscale hotel in Patna. Laluji charged Nitish of encouraging horse-trading then. Again, after the February 2005 polls, 17 LJP MLAs were taken away to Ranchi by the NDA in a bid to form a government with the fractured mandate. Laluji, the Congress and Ram Vilas Paswan had then accused Nitish of indulging in horse-trading. It is ironical that now Nitishji is saying the same thing,' said a senior Congress leader.

One is more than enough

JDU MLA Arun Manjhi was once a vocal supporter of the chief minister. In the current political battle, he has switched loyalties to Nitish Kumar. On Saturday, when the meeting of JDU MLAs was about to start, Arun was handed a paper. His name was on the top of the paper. A JDU legislator present at the scene said: 'There was a large grin on his face when he thought that he would be made the chief minister. Later, it was pointed out that he was made the first proposer for Nitish being named the new leader of the JDU legislative party. Arun lost the grin immediately. One Manjhi is more than enough for Nitish.'

Care for some food

One of the women legislators in the JDU packed puri-sabzi to eat on the plane on way to Delhi on Tuesday. 'Someone pointed out that outside eatables were not allowed on flights and instead she could order snacks from the air hostesses for a payment. She refused to budge and took her food along. The flight crew was so taken aback by the number of MLAs on a single flight that nobody bothered to say anything to anyone,' said a JDU MLA. This episode took old-timers back to an instance in the 1990s when a group of Bihar MPs forced the pilot to land in Patna first before Lucknow.