"Aap toh Kishan Kanhaiya ho gaye hai (You have become Lord Krishna)." That was how Prime Minister Narendra Modi greeted Bihar health minister Tej Pratap Yadav at the special lunch for VVIPs organised at Gandhi Maidan on Thursday.
He was referring to pictures of Tej Pratap playing the flute dressed as Krishna that had gone viral on social media on January 1.
Tej Pratap, his younger brother and deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav and their father Lalu Prasad exchanged pleasantries with Modi at the lunch.
The Prime Minister also enquired about the health of Lalu, who has been going hammer and tongs at the Centre over demonetisation.
The lunch was laid out at a special lounge that was only for select people and their names were written on the chairs. The Prime Minister was seated at the centre of the dining table, flanked by chief minister Nitish Kumar and governor Ram Nath Kovind. Lalu sat next to Nitish.
During the Prime Minister's speech that preceded the lunch, the RJD chief sat nearly 50m from the dais in a special area earmarked for VIPs, on a foam bed along with his minister sons, Assembly speaker Vijay Kumar Choudhary, tourism minister Anita Devi, social welfare minister Manju Verma and food and consumer protection minister Madan Sahni.
Others in the VIP arena included Ruby Dhalla, who was the first Sikh woman parliamentarian in Canada's House of Commons, and CM secretariat officers such as director-general of police P.K. Thakur and principal secretary (home) Amir Subhani.
Lalu used the occasion to introduce Tejashwi to the leaders from Punjab including deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal, who was also sitting in the VIP area.
When Lalu entered the hall where the main event was held, many people virtually mobbed him to take his picture on their mobile phones.
The only Grand Alliance leader who found mention in Modi's speech, in which he lauded the chief minister for the Prakash Utsav arrangements, was Nitish - although the nodal state government agency for the festival is the tourism department headed by the RJD's Anita Devi.
Nitish, however, did mention Lalu by name in his speech when he listed out the important people present at the occasion.
The menu for the lunch that followed the main event was: Makki di roti, missi roti, kadhi, chawal, shahi paneer, mixed vegetables, dal makhni, matar paneer, ghee mixed with sugar, kheer, gajar ka halwa and kada prasad.
"Modi ji tasted all the dishes," Golu Babaji, who headed the eight-member team from Punjab's Tarn Taran district that prepared the food, told The Telegraph. "He praised the food; in fact all the people praised us. We were informed last night that our team will cook for the Prime Minister. We are lucky to get this opportunity."
Prem Halwai, the head cook, added: "I will never forget this occasion."
Dignitaries at the lunch included Union ministers Ram Vilas Paswan, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Ram Kripal Yadav and Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Punjab CM Parkash Singh Badal, Punjab deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal, Patna Sahib MP Shatrughan Sinha, Patna Sahib Gurdwara president Avtar Singh Makkar and Bihar chief secretary Anjani Kumar Singh.
There were chairs with the names of Union ministers Upendra Kushwaha and S.S. Ahluwalia but they were not present.
