Made for each other

Ranchi, April 25: It’s official. The chief minister’s estranged wife, Geeta Biruli, has returned to Madhu Koda’s ancestral home at Patahatu in West Singhbhum.

She will check in to the chief minister’s residence on a suitable date determined by soothsayers.

After walking out in October 2004, barely six months after marriage with Koda, Geeta had been living with her maternal uncle and had been busy running a dairy. Her father passed away soon after the marriage broke up but the couple did not go for a legal separation.

The marital setback was followed by a series of political reverses when Koda was dropped first from the cabinet and then denied nomination by the BJP to contest the Assembly elections in 2005. He, however, won as an Independent, helped BJP form the government and then pulled down the Arjun Munda-led NDA government to become chief minister himself.

Even as Geeta had made no attempt to keep in touch, confide people close to the chief minister, mediators were active all along. Koda himself retained a soft corner for his wife and is said to have confided to his mother when she was receiving medical attention in New Delhi and later when she came to live at the chief minister’s residence for a few months. He also regularly enquired about her wellbeing and possibly continued to help out his in-laws like a good damaad.

In a classic Saas-Bahu twist, Koda’s mother was initially reluctant to receive the Bahu back, livid at the embarrassment she had caused Koda. But the lady relented after learning that both Koda and his wife wanted a reconciliation.

The Bahu, therefore, returned to the Koda household on April 19 and has been attending on Koda’s parents since then, sources confided.

Koda, said sources close to him, confided to them that the misunderstanding with his wife had been sorted out.

So, it will be a fairytale ending of a separation that lasted two and a half years.