Nitish aka The Mahatma

Chief minister Nitish Kumar is being referred to as The Mahatma in private conversations in political circles in Patna. “During the last six months Nitish has been spending more time speaking on Guru Gobind Singh, Lord Buddha and Mahatma Gandhi than anything else. He mixes the three with talks on complete prohibition. It is sermons and more sermons,” remarked a JDU MLA . 

The Dal MLA’s BJP friend said Nitish was trying to become a saint and would not be a threat to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2019. “Of course when one has an ally like Lalu Prasad one tends to become spiritual,” remarked the BJP MLA pointing towards the series of allegations made by party leader Sushil Kumar Modi against the RJD chief. “It’s better talking about Mahatma Gandhi and his philosophy than having to reply to the corruption charges made against his ally.” 

Walk talk

Officials were surprised at the brisk walk by Nitish Kumar from Chandrahiya village to Gandhi Smriti Udyan in Motihari last Monday. “We were not aware that the chief minister is a health freak, although we had heard that he does some yoga in the morning,” remarked an official recalling that even other politicians and officials sweated their way towards the destination located more than 7km away. An official disclosed that for the last few months the chief minister has been walking for at least an hour every morning inside 1 Aney Marg. “It appears that he had made preparations for the day,” the official said.

Spokesperson blues

An angry RJD chief Lalu Prasad called three of his state party spokespersons to his residence and gave them a dressing down for not reacting to the charges against him and his family members levelled by Sushil Modi. “He was extremely upset with one party spokesperson who on a TV channel agreed to a BJP leader’s demand that there should be an independent probe into the whole matter,” confided an RJD leader. Close associates of spokespersons, however, point out that though Lalu let out his frustration on them he did not tell them how to challenge the statements made by the BJP leader. “The spokespersons left without getting any wiser,” conceded an RJD leader.