Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar yesterday evening literally set sail with his ministers and bureaucrats. The entire state cabinet went on a cruise on the Ganga and celebrated what they called the end of a financial year and the beginning of a new one.

Details of the celebration were unavailable as the media was kept away from it. The get-together was meant exclusively for the state ministers and bureaucrats. For more than two hours, Nitish Kumar, his ministers and bureaucrats sailed on the Ganga, chatted and enjoyed delicacies. Foolproof security arrangements were made for the on-board party, and men in uniforms kept vigil by encircling the VVIP vessel in motorboats. The cruise party was yet another new thing for Bihar under the changed regime, which is desperate to turn around the fortunes of the state. After returning from the cruise, Nitish Kumar said that more such parties would be held in the future. He said that the party was thrown to mark the end of the last financial year and the beginning of the new one in which Bihar will march on the path to development.

He said that in the last financial year, his government had earned considerable goodwill for successful presentation of the budget and a host of initiatives that have ushered the state towards development. “It was a refreshing exercise,” said Kumar.