Roots in Bihar, in action in MP

Prabhat Jha, the BJP president of Madhya Pradesh, is a Bihari by roots. But he loves to identify himself with Madhya Pradesh more than Bihar. After all, he is also a member of the Rajya Sabha from Madhya Pradesh, his karmbhoomi now. rabhat was born and brought up in north Bihar’s Mithila region. He shifted to Gwalior in his 20s. Recently, he was in the Patna office of the BJP. When asked if he feels proud to be a Bihari in keeping with Nitish Kumar's slogan “Garva se kaho hum Bihari hain” (say with pride we are Biharis), Prabhat said: “I live on food, water and salt of Madhya Pradesh. Better, consider me a Madhya Pradeshi.” When pointed out that the Bihar chief minister who was running the government with the BJP was invoking Bihari pride of late, Prabhat said: “It is good that Nitishji is working for Bihar. I will prefer to serve my state (MP) the way Nitishji is serving his.” After all, Prabhat is a hardboiled politician and as such he can ill-afford to make politically incorrect remarks.

 

Dalits’ saviour

Chief minister Nitish Kumar is emerging as the messiah of Mahadalits. Around 3,000 Mahadalits gathered at SK Memorial Hall to listen to him on the occasion of the Ambedkar's birth anniversary on Thursday. Several Mahadalit members sat on the floor close to the dais from where the chief minister was addressing them. “There is a vacuum in the Dalit leadership in Bihar with Ram Vilas Paswan turning into a five star Dalit leader,” said a ruling JD (U) leader belonging to the Mahadalit community. When asked to explain the “five star Dalit leader”, the JD (U) cadre said: “Paswan always sports suit and stays in five star hotels whenever he comes to Patna. He lives in five star culture which is virtually an antonym to the lifestyle of Mahadalits.” But the punch is Patna does not have a five star hotel.

Temper trips over power

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar repeatedly said he was trying his best to set up power plants in Bihar. He has also made it clear that the power position would not improve in Bihar unless the state got its own power plants. He lost his cool recently when a reporter asked him about the power crisis in the state. A reporter working for a daily asked the chief minister how long the power crisis would continue in the state at the janata darbar on Monday. A visibly irritated Nitish said: “Are you in janata darbar for the first time? Didn’t you hear what I told you on the issue in the last janata darbar? Which paper do you belong to?” Embarrassed, the reporter told the chief minister about his newspaper, which Nitish perhaps was not aware of. The chief minister said: “Please send your paper to me also so that I too can read your paper.”

 

Lalu in making

The wily and loquacious animal husbandry minister Giriraj Singh appears to be a Lalu Prasad in the making in the NDA. Earthy words and local slang dominate his lips whenever he interacts with the complainants at the janata darbar that he holds. Giriraj, at times, turns abusive to the people coming with their complaints. But the visitors hardly get annoyed because they feel that it is Giriraj’s way of talking. In a way, he is similar to the RJD boss whose abuses were taken up as pyar ki bhasha (language of love) by he people.