BIG BROTHER'S SHADOW

AN UPBEAT BJP HAS AN ‘ATMANIRBHAR’ PLAN FOR THE 2025 BIHAR ASSEMBLY POLL. THE TWO CURRENT DEPUTY CHIEF MINISTERS ARE SETTING THE STAGE FOR THIS

- Amitabh Srivastava

Tarkishore Prasad picks up the phone receiver and says, “DM saheb, I am sending someone to see you. Do solve his problem and report back when it is done.” Then, for the benefit of those within earshot, the otherwise soft-spoken Tarkishore bhaiyya makes a point of adding: “Garib ki madad priority se honi chahiye (the welfare of the poor must be accorded priority)...not like the old days.”

That little postscript about the old days and the not-so-subtle brag about speedy redress of complaints is, of course, laden with political significance. The 65-year-old deputy chief minister (one of two from the BJP) says no more about the ‘old days’. And yet nobody in the room is left in any doubt that he is showing off his party’s muscle. He was also serving notice to babus in the state that this is no longer a solo show of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

A general impression of the Nitish years has been that the bureaucracy only heeds the hands-on chief minister—who still controls the critical home and general administration portfolios—and a handful of powerful ministers, but given the BJP’s increased strength now in the Bihar house and cabinet, the ‘old days’ are slowly becoming a thing of the past. Meanwhile, Tarkishore moves on to the next complainant as the harried man from one of the north Bihar districts thanks him and leaves with a chit for the DM. The deputy chief minister is at his weekly janata darbar on Tuesdays, and there are still over 250 people waiting for his attention.

THE TWO DEPUTY CMs