 "State poll defeat takes flavour out of <i>makar sankranti</i> feasting for Bihar ministers")
During the 10 years of United Progressive Alliance (UPA) rule, iftar parties had characterised Congress leadership reaching out to sundry stakeholders by inviting them to rub shoulders and break bread with senior ministers and the party’s first family. Iftars and Id feasts have gone out of Delhi’s social itinerary after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) took over the reins of power atop Raisina Hill, and 'Diwali Milans' are more in vogue.
Today, two of the six union ministers from Bihar hosted separate breakfast and lunch on the occasion of the harvest festival of makar sankranti. But neither could replicate the success of the feasts they had organised on the occasion in 2015. The attendance at both events was lackluster, which observers said was due to the National Democratic Alliance's drubbing in the Bihar assembly polls in November.
Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh hosted a breakfast of dahi-chura (curd and flattened rice), chokha and khichri for the party workers, bureaucrats and journalists, while Union Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan invited BJP leadership to a makar sankranti lunch with somewhat identical fare.
If the list of names of those who attended the two events was any indication, Radha Mohan's stock in the party doesn’t seem to be very high after the Bihar assembly polls. Few ministers of note dropped in, and that too only at the fag end of the event. Only Communications and Information Technology minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, Steel Minister Narendra Singh Tomar and Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Rathore as did Bihar BJP leader Sushil Modi attended the breakfast cum lunch at Radha Mohan's 6, Tughlak Road bungalow. Some second rung BJP leaders showed up, but didn't stay for long. Although, sources in the party deny that the union cabinet will be reshuffled in the near future, there have been reports that some of the six ministers from Bihar in the cabinet could find themselves dropped from the ministry because of the Bihar defeat. That few ministers of note visited Radha Mohan was also surprising as the feast had come barely a day after his ministry had announced the government's ambitious 'Prime Minister crop insurance scheme'.
There was comparatively more buzz at Paswan’s lunch at his residence on 12 Janpath. Several ministers, including Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Minister of State VK Singh graced the occasion. Later, some other ministers also turned up. But Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was the chief guest at last year's makar sankranti lunch by Paswan, stayed away. Additional Principal Secretary in the Prime Ministers’ Office PK Mishra was one bureaucrat of note who partook of the dahi-chura and sweets there.
The poor attendance of senior ministers at the two makar sankranti feasts was in some contrast to the makar sankranti lunches that former Rural Development Minister Raghuvansh Prasad used to host during the UPA-I government. Raghuvansh Prasad’s party, the Rashtriya Janata Dal, was an ally of the Congress then. Raghuvansh babu, as he is fondly called, was not just the most important leader in the RJD after Lalu Prasad but also widely respected. He was also one of the first minister of note to make popular the tradition of hosting makar sankranti lunches for friends, acquaintances, bureaucrats and politicians. The lunches were extremely well attended with politicians of all hues turning up at the annual feast. The lunches continued to be well attended even during the UPA-II years when RJD had ceased to be an alliance partner and Raghuvansh Prasad was no longer a minister.
While Raghuvansh Prasad used to hold an open house, there was heartburn among some BJP leaders from Bihar that Paswan didn't bother to invite them.