A woman journalist of a local TV channel was ‘stumped’ when Janta Dal (United) president Sharad Yadav lobbed an unexpected compliment at her in reply to her question during a press conference here on Tuesday. The journalist in question asked Yadav as to which state he prefers - Bihar or Madhya Pradesh. In reply, a smiling Yadav said, “Bihar, Madhya Pradesh… entire India is beautiful and you are beautiful too.”

Yadav has received his engineering education at Jabalpur and now represents Bihar in the Lok Sabha and the journalist had apparently asked the question in this context.

Sharad Yadav said the body of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, who was hanged on February 9, should be handed over to his family for performing final rites as per their ritual.

Alleging that the UPA-led central government fails to handle such sensitive issues, he said, “Afzal’s family has a legal right to take over the body. It is my opinion that his body should be handed over to his family,” he said.

He further said Afzal’s family should have been informed about his hanging in advance. “If the family of Ajmal Kasab, accused in Mumbai attack, had been given prior information about his hanging, then why was Afzal’s family not given prior,” he asked.