Nitish's 'fitness' drive

Legislators attending the monsoon session of the Assembly complimented each other on their "fit looks". An MLA responding to a similar compliment, said: "Since I do not get my regular liquor, I have slimmed down. The potbelly is slowly vanishing."

Another legislator seemed to let the cat out of the bag by suggesting that the only politicians who got entangled in liquor cases were those who were caught on video. He sagely advised that "it's better to consume liquor alone" and that many officials and ministers still consumed their regular dose of liquor.

Ghosts of scams past

At a recent RJD meeting, MLAs grumbled that their ministers were not doing their own work. Speaking of a particular department, an RJD MLA said: "We continue to send letters regarding the official posting of engineers and their work, but it is never acknowledged by the minister." The minister heading the department concerned was present at the meeting and responded to the legislator saying: "Please do not plead the case of engineers using your official letterheads. There is not a single engineer without a black spot in my department." A senior official of the party stressed that politicians never seemed to learn from past mistakes. "The fodder scam still haunts us. Many legislators got entangled in the scam because they had pleaded the case of corrupt officials," he added.

Dark silence

The power supply of the state legislature building while Assembly was in session provided ministers with reason to exchange a few jibes. As the House plunged into darkness, the voice of BJP leader Nand Kishore Yadav ominously rang out: "Bijendra babu, pranam" sending the House into peals of laughter. The generally responsive energy minister - Bijendra Prasad Yadav - did not respond and the power supply was restored shortly. An RJD MLA analysing the reason behind Bijendra babu's silence, remarked that his lack of response was related to the regular loss of power.

Wah-wah!

Health minister Tej Pratap Yadav has been receiving applause from the Assembly for responding to questions. The Opposition too generously applauded the young politicians efforts with " wah wah" when he read out the answers to two questions related to the health department. "He has progressed a lot since the time he would look lost when asked questions, or even evade the House when questions arose. He still has a way to go though. I'm sure if I were to ask him supplementary questions, he would be in a soup, but why discourage the youngster," said a senior BJP leader. An RJD minister suggested that the BJP wants "Tej Pratap to be at par with the more articulate Tejashwi."