‘Heartburn’ over Red zone posting

Deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi received an unusual request at his janata darbar on Tuesday. The visitor — son of a Bihar police constable — pleaded on behalf of his father: “My father suffers from heart ailment. I request you to transfer him to a police station close to Patna.” hen Modi inquired where his father was posted, the son replied, “My father is posted in a Maoist-dominated area, somewhere in south Bihar.” Modi figured out that the reason for the constable’s heart ailment was his posting in a Naxalite area. “It should be the other way round. The Maoists should have a heartache on seeing a constable,” Modi muttered, asking, “What sort of a constable your father is?” The constable’s son had come to Modi’s darbar with a BJP worker. Perhaps, the company of the party worker saved the boy from a tongue lashing that the deputy chief minister would have given him.

Race for DGP post

Several senior IPS officers are harbouring the desire to replace Neel Mani as Bihar's director-general of police. Neel Mani is scheduled to retire in August this year. One of the aspirants happens to be Ashok Kumar Gupta, additional director-general (ADG), Bihar Police Building Construction Corporation. Many other IPS officers even senior to Gupta are in the queue for the post of the state’s top cop. But Gupta’s name is a subject of discussion in police circles because he revived the moribund construction corporation and has donated Rs 3 crore from the corporation's profit to the chief minister's relief fund. “He (Gupta) has played his cards well by getting close to the chief minister through the relief money. But he is still in the ADG rank and the chief minister may find it hard to promote him to the DGP rank and then post him above many other senior officers,” said a senior IPS officer. But then nobody knows the criteria that the chief minister will eventually follow while appointing the new DGP. Nitish Kumar continues to be unpredictable for his officials.

IT boost to public image

The NDA-II public relations work appears to have improved remarkably in comparison to NDA-I and the Lalu-Rabri regime earlier. Newspaper offices are getting timely press releases, that too neatly written on sparkling white sheets of paper. Besides, the information and public relations department (IPRD) officials have also been e-mailing the releases — a practice not in vogue during NDA-I. Chief minister Nitish Kumar, during his first tenure in office, had rightly remarked that he had inherited Remington typewriter-age system from the regime he had succeeded. “The chief minister, apparently, has worked hard to improve the public relations system, even making it net-savvy. The officials have learnt to use computers and other gadgets necessary for performing duty,” said an IPRD official, recalling, “There was a problem of attitude during the Lalu-Rabri regime. Why should the officials use Net when the chief minister (Lalu then) was saying IT-YT kya hota hai.” Another offici-al added: “Jaisa raja, wa-isi praja (subjects behave the way the king does).”

Idli, dosa off CM’s plate

Chief minister Nitish Kumar invariably used to visit idli-masala dosa joints in the capital during his first tenure in office. Bansibihar — a restaurant famous for its south Indian delicacies — was his favoured destination on weekends. Now, the chief minister is hardly seen at the restaurant. Grapevine has it that he is strictly observing the directive of a Delhi-based dietician to keep his weight under control. He has already got rid of the extra flab on his frame and is looking slimmer.