My son partook of your food and then defeated your team,” beamed Railways Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav. Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, looking a bit sheepish, replied, “Are you thanking me for that?” Those who overheard the two at the Iftar party hosted by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh were bemused. Lalu hastened to explain that they were talking about his cricketer son. The Delhi team, for which Tejasvi Prasad Yadav plays, had gone for a fixture in Srinagar. Once there, the young cricketer called his father to tell him that the J&K CM had invited him for lunch. Lalu wanted to know how the invitation had come. When his son said that it had come through Azad's OSD, Yadav cautioned, “Don’t go until you talk to the CM himself. That is Kashmir. Koi utha le jayega aur bolega, ‘Lalu ka beta hai bees ko chhodo’ (Militants would abduct you and say, ‘It is Lalu’s son, so free 20 jailed militants in exchange for his release’).”
