Lost and found, voice of ministers

Food and consumer protection minister Shyam Rajak has stepped up his attack on the BJP and other JD(U) leaders have followed suit. The BJP leaders are left bewildered at the sudden aggression though. Sources, however, said the vociferous attacks are a means to placate chief minister Nitish Kumar. The chief minister is reportedly upset with the “silence” of his ministers in face of the BJP leaders’ statements against him. When Shyam Rajak was in the RJD, he used to issue at least four statements against me every day,” Nitish mourned. His ministers appear to have got the message and are now speaking in favour of Nitish. “Of course there is always a danger of the standard of the jibes taking a nosedive. The ministers may say anything and everything to show Nitish they have regained their voice,” conceded a senior JD(U) leader.

Dubious stand

The JD(U), faced with the prospect of fighting the 2014 Lok Sabha polls alone against an angry BJP and a determined RJD, appears to have shed its “no-dubious-character-in-the-party” stand. Its decision to throw open its doors to the likes of Shah Alam Saboo has raised eyebrows even within the party ranks. Alam joined the JD(U) on Wednesday in presence of Rajya Sabha MP RCP Singh and spokesperson Devesh Chandra Thakur. “Saboo has a controversial track record. Criminal charges are filed against him in Muzaffarpur. I doubt if he would have been considered for the party had we been in the NDA,” remarked a JD(U) worker. Party sources indicate the JD(U) is panicked at the sudden spree of leaders joining the BJP and is naturally desperate to put up a similar show of its own, especially with a member belonging to the minority community.

Claim to fame

There was a time politicians used to demand a CBI probe at the drop of a hat. But Bihar, for the past few months, has seen the National Investigation Agency entering the picture after serial blasts at Mahabodhi Mahavihara in Bodhgaya (July) and Gandhi Maidan in Patna (October). Minister Shyam Rajak, while defending the Nitish government’s performance on account of law and order, fumbled and declared that the “NIT” was investigating the twin blasts in Bihar. He had to be corrected. “The manner in which terror attacks are being carried out in Bihar, it won't be long before even a child would know the NIA’s name. Just as the CBI became a well-known name in the mid-1990s thanks to the fodder scam,” said a seasoned politician.

Party parrots

BJP leader Giriraj Singh recently dubbed JD(U) spokespersons “trained parrots of Nitish Kumar”. Spokesperson Sanjay Singh hit back, declaring Giriraj a parrot of Narendra Modi. “Giriraj is being ousted from his post by Sushil Kumar Modi and Nand Kishore Yadav,” he added. “Parrots are supposed to speak what their masters have taught them. What is wrong in being a parrot?” joked a senior BJP leader.