Japan at last on Nitish's lips

When chief minister Nitish Kumar returned from his Japan trip, he was expected to address the media about his foreign trip. But it was cancelled. When the House proceedings began, every MLA expected the chief minister to speak about his Japan experience but the House had a stormy beginning and Nitish skipped the House for two days. It was during his reply to the debate of the governor's address that the issue of Japan popped up. The chief minister recalled how disciplined commuters are in Japan when it came to zebra crossings, he recalled his own experience in Mumbai when a friend almost got struck by a car at a zebra crossing. "Japan has come at last," remarked a JDU MLA. His colleague, however, declared that Japan will pop up more frequently in private conversations.

Nitish versus Siddiqui

CM Nitish Kumar during his reply to the governor's speech was being repeatedly interrupted by Leader of the Opposition Tejashwi Yadav. "Inko samjhaiye. Samjhate kyun nahi. (Counsel him. Why don't you do so)," said Nitish to senior RJD leader Abdul Bari Siddiqui. Nitish went on: "I keep forgetting that he (Tejashwi) is now your leader. How can you counsel him." That was not the only time Nitish took digs at Siddiqui. When Siddiqui tried to make a point during Nitish's reply Nitish recalled that when he (Siddiqui) was with him in the treasury bench he showed very little interest in the department he headed (finance). "Your only grudge was that you were not given the commercial tax department," he jibed. Nitish's attack at Siddiqui, said political observers, had started ever since Siddiqui backed out of the revolt against Lalu before the 2015 polls.

A tour too fast

A BJP MLA said road construction minister Nand Kishore Yadav who had accompanied CM Nitish Kumar on the Japan trip found the tour too fast. "Nanduji had gone with the intention of shopping in Japan for his relatives. But the tour programme was so tight that he found that he was given no time to do any shopping. One meeting ended and another meeting began or the delegation was on to some other destination. The money Nanduji had taken for shopping remained in his luggage," the BJP MLA remarked. The consolation is that he could have purchased items from Delhi and said they have been purchased from Nepal, remarked another MLA.

Badri and Radhe

Nitish made it clear that he would not back out of prohibition and even talked about bringing in a new technology to catch culprits violating the dry law. A JDU MLA in private conversation recalled his recent experience in a village in north Bihar. "People talk and say if they want Badri Prasad or Radhe Shyam to come. Do not make the mistake that they are talking about two persons. Badri Prasad stands for Blenders Pride and Radhe Shyam stands for Royal Stag - two liquor brands which have flooded Bihar after prohibition and are sold at a premium," he remarked, wondering if Nitish's new technology would be able to detect Badri and Radhe.