After Lalu, Nitish gets invite from IIM-A

After asking Railway Minister Lalu Prasad to speak about the revamp of the railways, the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad has invited his bete-noire Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to deliver a lecture on reforms in his state.

The IIM-A has sent an invitation to Kumar to address the three-day "Participants of Confluence 2006".

IIM-A director Bakul H Dholakia, in a letter addressed to the chief minister on September 9, requested him to deliver a lecture on November 26 at the institute's global student event to be held from November 23.

"We would like you to focus on the challenges and opportunities in transforming Bihar as a vibrant wealth creation state under your able leadership," Dholakia said in his invitatation to Kumar, who recently described Lalu as the "poster boy" of the media.

Sources in the chief minister's office said Kumar had accepted the invitation. Over 1,000 students from 20 top business schools in Europe, the US and Far Eastern countries are likely to participate in the event, said Dholakia's letter, copies of which were released to the press.

The IIM-A has formed a panel of industrialists to advise and design the confluence, an annual event organised by the institute.