Anusha Rehman Khan, one of the Pakistani delegates, outside Bihar Legislative Assembly on Saturday. Picture by Nagendra Kumar Singh

Patna, Aug. 25: The Nitish Kumar government did not take any chance and took the tried-and-tested culinary route to make it to the hearts of the Pakistani guests.

With a sumptuous spread comprising 22 dishes, including chicken tikka, mutton tikka, fish tikka, boti kebab, chicken reshmi kebab, mutton reshmi kebab, chicken Hyderbadi biryani, mutton biryani, tandoori chicken, tandoori roti, gulab jamun and dosa fry, and a variety of salads, the 21-member delegation overwhelmed by the hospitality they received in Bihar today.

The icing on the cake was a visit to Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Public Library that houses manuscripts of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, besides that of several other academics and ruling elites of the medieval period.

The Telegraph got the opportunity to meet some delegates, including members of National Assembly, and found that they were not only impressed by the treat but the overall turnaround in the state as well. They praised Nitish’s weekly janata durbar and said it was a “good platform” to understand the problems of the common man.

“Bihar is like our home only. Such visits will make the relation between India and Pakistan stronger. As far as chief minister Nitish Kumar is concerned, I would say that he has done a tremendous work in Bihar. I have heard that he hold camps at several places, which is good practice. Unless you spend time with people, it is difficult to understand their problems,” Sayed Tayeb Hussain, a member of the Pakistan national Assembly, told The Telegraph.

Comparing the regime of Lalu Prasad, who had visited Pakistan in 2003, with that of Nitish’s, Hussain, a resident of Lahore, said: “I have heard a lot of good things about Lalu as well. As a railway minister, he had done excellent work. But time has changed and we must understand that his regime was different. We will certainly take something from Bihar now and would like to implement in our country.”

Anusha Rehman Khan, another member of the Pakistan assembly, said: “I am very much impressed with the love and affection we received here. It is my privilege to be the part of the delegation. I met some wonderful people here. Besides, the food was yummy. It seems that I was having food at home only.”

Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency president Ahmed Bilal Mehboob said: “It is a wonderful place and your chief minister has done excellent work.” The joint director of the institute, Aasiya Riaz, said: “We had visited Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Public Library and saw some rare books, documents and paintings. We want the material of the library should to be available online.”

“We were asked to prepare Mughlai cuisines, and hence all the dishes were non-vegetarian,” said Prasoon Kumar, the proprietor of Gagan Caterer that had arranged the food.