Speeches on liquor benefits on the wane

• Chief minister Nitish Kumar's enthusiasm to speak on the benefits of prohibition appears to have waned after the recent bypoll debacle. He did not mention a word on the liquor ban at the youth meet organised by Ashok Choudhary. Also, inaugurating Bihar Diwas at Gandhi Maidan, Nitish made only a fleeting mention of the dry law as he spoke on Mahatma Gandhi's Champaran Satyagraha. "Earlier, Nitishji used to go on and on about the benefits of prohibition - sale of sweets have gone up, women of the house are happier, road accidents have come down, sale of sewing machines have gone up and so on," said a JDU leader. He added that if the women were happy with the liquor ban, the JDU would have won from Jehanabad with a huge margin. Finally, the truth appears to be dawning on Nitish, he remarked.

High costs

• The announcement of Sanjay Jha (in picture) as the election in-charge of poll-bound Karnataka has surprised many Bihar JDU leaders. "The party did not fund our bypoll candidate from Jehanabad adequately. In Karnataka money pumped in to the polls is exorbitant. In one Assembly segment, a single candidate can spend as much as Rs 2 crore," said a senior JDU leader. Another JDU leader questioned the party's wisdom to contest from Karnataka. "Whenever Sanjay Jha is made election in charge - like in Gujarat and Delhi - there is always a BJP angle. We may be fielding candidates in accordance to a list prepared by the BJP. The BJP should worry about the cost," he said.

Fishy absence

• Several MLAs are bewildered by the fact that chief minister Nitish Kumar and deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi are not present in the Assembly most of the time when slogans are raised against them in the Assembly. "The two have been absent even when they have no other engagement," said an RJD MLA, stressing that he smelt something fishy. There is speculation that some within the party give the leaders advance information about the demonstrations. "It is quite possible. There are some MLAs within our party who keep the NDA leaders informed just as there are some leaders in the NDA who keep us informed about what is going to happen," the RJD MLA said.

Seat hunt

• Former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi (right) went all the way to Ranchi recently to meet RJD boss Lalu Prasad, but was denied permission by the authorities. "I had gone after talking to Laluji on the phone," Manjhi complained, blaming the Jharkhand government for the "sabotage". RJD leaders believe differently. "It is quite possible that Laluji is reluctant to meet Manjhi because he knows that the former CM would demand a seat in the Council for either his son or state Hindustani Awam Morcha Secular chief Brishen Patel," said a senior RJD leader.