Friendly fire

Janata Dal (United) leader and spokesperson K C Tyagi was all prepared to deliver his maiden speech in Parliament on the trouble in Kishtwar, Jammu earlier this week but his attempts to speak were being thwarted by the sloganeering of the Telugu Desam Party MPs protesting against Telangana. Tyagi first appealed to them to quieten down but when slogans of "Save Andhra Pradesh" persisted, an irritated Tyagi shot back, "Save Bharat, Save India." After successfully delivering his speech to much applause Deputy Leader of the Opposition Ravi Shankar Prasad attempted to embarrass him by asking, "Tyagiji, you referred to us as your old friends. Do let us know who are your new friends?" He was referring to the fact that the JD(U) and Bharatiya Janata Party recently parted ways after being in alliance for 17 years. Tyagi was equally quick to reply, "Abhi banenge, bane nahi hai" (Not yet, but we're making them).