Lalu Prasad Yadav is obviously still basking in his achievements of having turned the Indian Railways into a cash surplus public sector unit.

The minister, who was attending an LIC function which was presided over by Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Sunday, deviated from his original agenda.

In his inimitable style, he started blowing his own trumpet on how he had turned a cash-strapped railways into a Rs 20,000-crore cash surplus PSU.

He continuously began to take potshots at two former railway ministers, Ram Vilas Paswan and  Nitish Kumar, who were sitting next to Mr Chidambaram.

“Yeh log ab bhootpoorv ho gayein hain (They have become former railway ministers). But I am still manning the Rail Bhavan,” said Mr Yadav, dwelling at length on how the railways was not in a position to distribute even the dividends when Mr Nitish Kumar was heading it.

When Nitish’s  turn came to address the gathering, he took the wind out of Lalu’s sails, saying that he would like to see Lalu as railway minister throughout his life.

“Given a choice, I would propose to the Centre to amend the rules in such a way that Lalu could remain railway minister for ever,” said Nitish, much to the amusement of Chidambaram and Mr Paswan.

Before concluding, he took a jibe at the RJD supremo: “Laluji alag cheeze hain. LIC ke function mein bhi railway ka hee bakhan karte rahte hai (Lalu is a unique person. Even in the LIC function, he keeps on harping on the railways’ turnaround story). Don’t show off too much, Laluji. Someday, you too may become a former railway minister like me and Paswan. Then, you too will have to listen to the achievements of the then railway minister.”