Ashwini Kumar Choubey, a former president of Patna University Students’ Union, wanted to be a doctor and study medical education in Banaras Hindu University. He did apply and got the call letter although a bit late. On getting the letter he consulted his friend Sushil Kumar Modi who advised him to rush to Varanasi but by the time he reached there it was too late.
A JP movement activist Choubey though could not fulfill his dream to become a doctor; he became the Health Minister in Bihar in the Nitish Kumar Cabinet. Originally belonging to Bhagalpur which he represented in Assembly five times and now the MP from Buxar is Union Minister of State for Health even though his induction surprised many.
The most memorable act of Raj Kumar Singh or RK Singh, a former IAS officer of 1975 batch who retired as Union Home Secretary in 2013, was arresting lK Advani in Samastipur, the district he was serving as Collector in early 90s, when the BJP’s stalwart was proceeding to Ayodhya on his Ram Rath. Then Chief Minister lalu Prasad ordered Singh to arrest Advani before he could move ahead.
A best known bureaucrat in Bihar he is credited with constructing a wide network of roads after 2005 when he was made Principal Secretary of Road Construction Department. With Nand Kishore Yadav as Minister of that department, Singh and his team of dedicated officials, including Pratyaya Amrit, left no stone unturned to lay new roads and repair old ones and scripted a story of Bihar’s turnaround during 2005-10.
Choubey though served as Minister under Nitish for over seven years until the CM severed ties with the BJP in mid 2013, he never had a liking for Nitish and would express his disliking in private. But after winning the 2014 lS polls, the first timer MP would speak against his bête noire every now and then. Till recently, when the talks were going on about the JD(U) rejoining NDA, he openly opposed the move calling Nitish a betrayer and not trustworthy. Choubey had a narrow escape during devastation in Kedarnath in June 2013 when he lost close relatives and a bodyguard and had to take refuge in the sanctum sanctorum of the shrine.
Singh as bureaucrat had all round appreciation and was trusted officer of both lalu and Nitish. During lalu’s regime, he served a Home Secretary and troubleshooter for the RJD boss. Known as a tough and no-nonsense babu, Singh, who originally hails from Supaul District of north Bihar but MP from Ara in central Bihar, had been feeling uneasy in the BJP particularly during 2015 Assembly election when he loudly criticised the State leadership of the party and accused it of selling tickets to anti-social elements. In frustration he even refused to campaign for party candidates.