Funds, praise flow for Nitish regime

Nitish Kumar has not visited the United States during his tenure as the Bihar chief minister but American dignitaries have landed here in hordes and showered praise on his governance. Early this year, World Bank president Robert Zoellick, during his visit to Bihar, sanctioned a Rs 1,000-crore loan to the government for carrying out rehabilitation in the flood-ravaged Kosi region. Recently, Bill Gates and his wife Melinda came here and praised the NDA government for its achievement in the health sector. ere too Nitish is quite in contrast to his predecessor, Lalu Prasad. The RJD boss visited several western countries, including America and England, on the pretext of inviting investors. But no big celebrities from the US or UK came to Bihar to provide any assistance or praised the Lalu-Rabri regime.

Part-time teacher

Pushed to the periphery of politics in the Assembly elections last year, the RJD boss has decided to act as a teacher for his workers. Lalu Prasad has decided to put in place a syllabus which he and other senior leaders will teach to the party workers at the block and district level. The syllabus, which is still being prepared, is believed to include the “art of winning the heart of poor people” as one of the chapters, focussing on Lalu’s image as the “messiah of the poor”. Lalu’s biography was earlier included as a chapter in the Hindi books of students of government schools in the state. The then Opposition, led by BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi, created a furore in the Assembly over the inclusion of Lalu’s biography in the school syllabus. The chapter was dropped soon after Nitish Kumar-led NDA took over the reigns of the state n 2005.

Gone with the wind

Where are Sadhu Yadav, Subhas Yadav, Prabhunath Yadav — Lalu Prasad’s brothers-in-law — these days? They were always in the limelight during the 15 years of the Lalu-Rabri regime. They were believed to have immense clout over the bureaucrats and ministers in the state. There used to be huge crowds of people and party cadres outside their doors, till a few years ago. Suddenly, they have fallen silent. They tried to maintain their clout even after the fall of the RJD government. Sadhu crossed over to the Congress, contesting the Lok Sabha and Assembly polls, while Subhas tried to befriend Nitish Kumar during his previous tenure. But nothing worked. The two brothers are hardly seen in the political circles these days.

Tendulkar ton? What’s that?

On the day India were playing South Africa and Sachin Tendulkar was cruising to his 48th ODI century, three ministers were flying to Bhagalpur on a chopper. The pilot, who was a cricket enthusiast, used his radio system to keep himself updated. When Tendulkar scored his century, the pilot scribbled “T-100” on a paper and passed it on to a personal assistant of a minister to convey the good news to others. The first minister could not figure out what the pilot had to say. It was another minister who took a long look at the note and then remembered that Tendulkar was close to his century when the plane had taken off. “It appears you do not understand anything but politics,” the second minister told his cabinet colleague, explaining the meaning of “T-100”.