Bihar politicians’ love for Pakistan
The Pakistani delegation’s visit to Patna has triggered a political row after Leader of the Opposition Abdul Bari Siddiqui and LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan accused chief minister Nitish Kumar of violating diplomatic ethics by criticising the Prime Minister before the foreign team.
The JD(U) was quick to rebut the allegation. “They should have checked the facts. The chief minister criticised the PM in another function held the same day. He never uttered a single word against the PM in front of the Pakistan delegation,” said a JD(U) minister. Bihar politicians appear to be emotionally attached to Pakistan. When Lalu Prasad visited Pakistan as a part of a parliamentary delegation, another MP hailing from Bihar allegedly criticised the Union government then over handling the Gujarat riots in front of former Pakistan president Parvez Musharraf. Lalu spoke in his Pakistan visit at several meetings. “Now, Nitish is being invited to Pakistan. It is natural that the RJD and the LJP leaders would issue baseless statements,” said the JD(U) minister.
Deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi and health minister Ashwini Kumar Choubey do not enjoy the best of relationship. But the BJP bigwigs of the state, including Modi, on Saturday had dinner at Choubey’s house following a meeting there. “Only vegetarian food is the common thread between the two,” said a senior BJP leader, insisting that it must be a very chilling dinner. Modi and Choubey were once close friends. “But the ‘conflict’ Nitish Kumar and Narendra Modi pulled them apart. Modiji took the side of Nitish, while Choubeyji backed Narendra Modi. Their (Nitish and Narendra Modi) race for prime ministership has cost a friendship,” he added. A section of the BJP has started calling the JD(U) the “Trinamul Congress” of the NDA. “The JD(U) may be angry with us, issue threats of snapping ties, disagree with our views and even threaten to fight it alone in the next elections. But they will never leave us,” said a senior BJP leader, drawing parallel between the threats issued by JD(U) to the BJP and the pressure tactics of Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee to corner the Congress. He recalled that the BJP-JD(U) alliance, despite threats and counter-threats, has survived for more than 16 years. “It will do so even if Narendra Modi is projected as the NDA's prime ministerial candidate,” he said. A minister was recently stumped to learn that a person hailing from Phulwarisharif did not know the name of the legislator from his area. The minister refused to help the man till he could name the MLA. After the man left promising that he would return enlightened about the MLA, the minister wondered the fate of food and civil supplies minister Shyam Rajak, the MLA from the Phuwarisharif area. “Shyam should visit his constituency frequently or someone might put a poster about a missing MLA,” the minister said.
