Friendly fire

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar seems to be under fire from people within the ruling Grand Alliance. Right after attending a Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) meeting chaired by party chief Lalu Prasad at 10, Circular Road last week, RJD member of Parliament (MP) Mohammed Taslimuddin said it was a mistake to appoint Kumar as chief minister - he was not even fit to be a mukhiya (village chief). Taslimuddin was particularly critical of prohibition and Kumar's prime ministerial ambitions. Another senior RJD leader, former MP Prabhunath Singh, said the fact that a jailed RJD leader (Mohammad Shahabuddin) could organise a durbar (meeting) inside the jail was nothing short of administrative failure. Senior party leader Raghuvansh Prasad Singh was equally emphatic in his criticism: "The steering is in Nitish's hands; it is up to him to take the vehicle in the right direction." They were unanimous in their belief that the law and order situation in the state was in a shambles.