'Does a political or social worker ever retire? Is Nitish Kumar himself contesting the assembly elections'
However, as the region with the state's highest concentration of Muslims readies for polls on November 7 in the last phase of the elections, it is the Rashtriya Janata Dal-Congress-Left alliance that draws considerable support from the community amid sporadic voices in Owaisi's support as they weigh their choices.
The 94 constituencies which are going to poll on November 3 are in 17 districts: West Champaran, East Champaran, Sheohar, Sitamarhi, Madhubani, Darbhanga, Muzaffarpur, Gopalganj, Siwan, Saran, Vaishali, Samastipur, Begusarai, Khagaria, Bhagalpur, Nalanda and Patna.
A day after the dissolution of the Bihar assembly, Paswan claimed that he had been receiving telephone calls from Muslim leaders thanking him for his "tough stand" over having a Muslim chief minister for the state
Both polls projected the LJP as having slipped a long way.
e Union minister of state for home is somewhat brash and rowdy, and has enormous confidence.' Some of this derives from the fact that he has independent sources of income (he reported assets amounting to Rs 18 crore in his 2019 Lok Sabha nomination papers)
'We can't underestimate future threats.'
"The electorate of Bihar yearn for a change and for this they want the Congress, LJP and JD (U) to unitedly fight the assembly elections," he said.
In a rare protest, an angry Bharatiya Janata Party leader used donkeys to register his protest after being denied a ticket for the upcoming Bihar assembly elections.
'I have decided to postpone the proposed 'Garib Kisan Rally' to end the controversy arising out of the commission's directive against the RJD and filing of a case against me,' he said.
Left behind after elections will be the Biharis with their stagnant conditions of poor education, poor health infrastructure, poverty, unemployment, division of society and the aftermath of coronavirus. What will remain is the Bihari tenacity, observes Asmita Bihari.
It is likely that the party's allies in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, two of the five states going to the polls in April-May, might insist on allocating fewer seats than they did in 2016, reports Archis Mohan.
Bihar assembly elections which are to be announced shortly are expected to be five-phased and around 50,000 paramilitary personnel will be deployed in each phase to ensure peaceful polling.
Anti-incumbency against Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's 15-year-old rule in Bihar is stronger that what Lalu Prasad Yadav-led RJD regime faced in 2005, LJP president Chirag Paswan said on Monday, asserting that he walked out of the ruling alliance in the state so as not to have any 'guilt' of playing a role in continuation of the current dispensation.
Lalu Prasad and his Muslim-Yadav line has completely gone off track.
Yadav vowed to dislodge the government headed by Nitish Kumar, whom Congress leader Avinash Pandey in his address accused of "apharan" (hijacking) of the mandate in the previous elections.
State and UT governments have been given the flexibility to take a decision on re-opening of schools and coaching institutions after October 15 in a graded manner.
The Lok Janshakti Party chief is unhappy with Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Laloo Prasad Yadav for reportedly denying him the railway ministry.
While the assembly elections are being seen as largely a contest between the NDA and the Grand Alliance, the state has been witness to mushrooming of "morchas" (fronts) which may queer the pitch for the lead players in a tight contest.
Some senior Congress leaders including Kapil Sibal have called for introspection after the party's dismal performance in the recently held Bihar assembly polls, after which the ruling National Democratic Alliance returned to power in the state despite the main member of the grand opposition alliance, Rashtriya Janata Dal, putting up a strong show and emerging as the single largest party.
'The BJP and RSS accept that the party is winning election after election because of Modi.' 'If the BJP is winning due to Modi, it will also lose due to Modi.'
"It pains me like anyone else when I see that the state is being ruined by the president of the RJD and his party. I am prepared to make any sacrifice to end the corrupt and inefficient RJD rule in Bihar," the BJP leader said.
Biharis can confidently decide whether they want to follow Badlav Se Bhadiya Bharosa (Trust is Better than Change) or Badaliye Sarkar, Badaliye Bihar (Change the Government, Change Bihar), asserts Asmita Bihari.
Congress leader Shatrughan Sinha said the "writing on the wall is clear" that the 'Mahagathbandhan' will be 'maha vijayi' (grandly victorious) as everyone can see the attraction and euphoria for the grand opposition alliance.
India needs to examine some way in which, assuming that there is either no vaccine or a delay in administering it to everyone, voting can be made safer, notes Aakar Patel.
The National Democratic Alliance in Bihar which so far had BJP, JD-U and the LJP as its constituents will now have another dalit-centric party HAM as a member.
The 1975 batch IAS officer joined the BJP after his retirement in 2013.
In a significant directive, the home ministry said that state governments shall not impose any local lockdown outside the containment zones without prior consultation with the central government.
'...It won't help the party run a peaceful and equitable India,' warns Vir Sanghvi.
Inarguably the biggest gainer in the Grand Alliance, the CPI-ML, often working in the margins of mainstream politics, had 19 candidates in the fray, most of them students and youth leaders.
'Yes, I am a rebel, I am the son of Laluji and his blood is in me,' Tej Pratap is reported to have told supporters.
Sensex zooms 200 points in Muhurat trading, Nifty regains 7,800.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi took a swipe at the BJP, saying one has to refer to the state-wise election schedule to know when one will have access to the vaccine. The BJP, however, said health is a state subject and its manifesto is for Bihar, not for the entire country, where it has promised that the state will buy the vaccine for its people.
Did Nitish Kumar want to return to the Mahagathbandhan 6 months after aligning with the BJP?
Owaisi's five seats in Bihar's Muslim-majority Seemanchal region ought to ring alarm bells, observes Virendra Kapoor.
This was a difficult election to win, but the Modi card, the caste divide and the division in the Opposition vote bank helped overcome many challenges.
'The BJP is in no hurry because they have already won the battle.'
The BJP senior leadership is putting together a case for Amit Shah's continuance as party president despite the humiliating defeat in the Bihar assembly election.
Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad on Friday left for Delhi to placate Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, whose party stormed out of the nascent anti-Bharatiya Janata Party grand alliance for Bihar assembly elections on Thursday.
Both Narendra Modi and Amit Shah have refused to meet Union Minister Upendra Kushwaha.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances