Bihari delicacies for JD(U) delegates

PAWAPURI: Janata Dal (United) has made special arrangements for providing delicious Bihari food to 3,000 party delegates gathered here to attend its three-day state-level convention which is to decide the party's strategy in the state assembly elections scheduled for early next year. More than 50 expert "kaarigars" have been brought here from Chhapra for preparing typical Bihari "litti" and "chokha" for the delegates, party spokesman Anil Pathak said.As many as 12,000 "littis" were served on Tuesday night as the dinner menu's main item. To prepare them one quintal of "ghee", five quintals of flour and 50 kg of "sattu" had been procured from the neighbouring areas. Hundreds of party supporters have donated vegetables, food grains, pulses and other raw materials in huge quantities for making different food items during the convention, he said. JD(U) MP from Maharajganj Prabhunath Singh was instrumental in providing "litti" to the delegates, said Ram Pravesh Singh, who was in charge of the "litti" section. Along with "litti", the traditional "chokhas" of "baigan" (brinjal), potato and tomato were also served in the dinner. Party leader Nitish Kumar said "rasgulla" from Barahiya and Mallehpur, "khaaja" from Silao and "peda" from Deoghar (Jharkhand) are to be served as sweet dishes. A special attraction will be the famous "jalebi". Expert "kaarigars" have been entrusted with the job of preparing "jalebis" which are to be soaked in "chaasni" for at least 24 hours before being served, said a party worker. Almost all the top leaders of JD(U), including Nitish Kumar, Sharad Yadav, Digvijay Singh, Hari Kishore Singh, Jagannath Mishra, Dasai Chaudhary, Monajir Hasan, Rajiv Ranjan alias Lallan Kumar, Ajit Singh and Upendra Prasad Kushwaha, have already arrived here. Senior party leader George Fernandes is expected to reach here on Wednesday evening, said Nitish. Fernandes is likely to reach Delhi from Canada on Wednesday morning. Nitish, in his inaugural address, said block unit presidents have also been invited to attend this crucial convention which is mainly to discuss the present political situation, possibilities of electoral alliance with BJP and other parties and the issues relating to delimitation. The party has decided to set up a committee for preparing a state-level strategy to protest against the "arbitrary proposals" of the delimitation commission. The convention is also to discuss the issues relating to booth management. The party admitted that its present booth management strategy is very weak in terms of translating its support base into votes. The party's national executive committee, which is scheduled to meet in Ranchi next month, will decide finally its strategy in the next assembly elections.