Kumar had recently dumped the 'Mahagathbandhan', of which the Rashtriya Janata Dal was a key constituent, and returned to the NDA fold to form the government with support of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
The BJP's outreach to Paswan, son of late stalwart Dalit leader Ram Vilas Paswan, underscores its push to bring him back into the NDA's fold after he walked out of the alliance in Bihar in the 2020 state assembly polls to campaign against Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who was then the BJP's biggest ally.
The party, however, did not announce as whether it would merge with any other party or become part of some other alliance.
Manjhi had demanded that the NDA field at least one member from his party for the six Rajya Sabha polls in the state scheduled next month
Here is the complete list of ministers in Modi 3.0 and their portfolios:
BJP sources said a meeting of the National Democratic Alliance is expected to take place soon to highlight its growing strength and to dispel the impression that the departure of some of its oldest allies such as the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena, Shiromani Akali Dal and the Janata Dal-United have the left the saffron party without a major partner.
The RJD polled the highest vote share in Bihar, but it was not reflected in the number of seats it won.
Over 65 Union ministers are likely to take oath, going by the visual of the meeting Modi held with his likely council of ministers.
The Bharatiya Janata Party has demanded the arrest of Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi's son Perween Manjhi for alleged sexual exploiting a woman police official at a plush hotel in Bodh Gaya town.
HAM's Bihar president Brishen Patel told reporters on Wednesday that his party can snap the alliance from the BJP after discussions on this matter.
'The Congress is trying to reinvent itself -- the caste census demand, OBC emphasis, the anti-corporate thrust, especially on Adani etc -- all this is not standard Congress strategy.'
'If Rajpath was a symbol of slavery, how is the Central Vista not a symbol of slavery?'
The three-day-old Jitan Ram Manjhi government in Bihar won the trust vote in the state assembly amid walkout by opposition the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Concealed beneath the feat, which testifies to his political acumen and survival instincts, is the fact that the 72-year-old leader could never remain at peace with his allies which also made him change partners frequently.
The Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance is set to host a meeting of its constituents on Tuesday in what is being seen as a show of strength by the ruling alliance amid a get-together of opposition parties in Bengaluru to forge unity, as the two sides step up their campaign for the Lok Sabha elections in 2024.
The crowds were stunned into silence for a few seconds, after which they erupted in applause for the 69-year-old leader who has ruled the state for nearly 15 years.
A day after Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi hinted at the next Bihar assembly polls being held in September-October, most of the political parties including ruling Janata Dal-United and Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party claimed they were fully ready for it.
Janata Dal-United leader Nitish Kumar, who returns as Bihar chief minister for a record eighth time on Wednesday, is likely to retain the all-important home department, while the Rashtriya Janata Dal may get most of the departments that were previously with the Bharatiya Janata Party, a highly-placed source said.
As Bihar awaits the results in the much-awaited polls, Rediff.com takes a look at some of those leaders who won and lost.
Uncertainty shadows the composition of the two main political alliances in Bihar with several parties still exploring their choices as the Election Commission on Friday announced the schedule for the assembly polls.
Tejashwi was seemingly unfazed by the incident as he didn't even mention it in his speech.
The BJP has offered support to Jitan Ram Manjhi if he assures the support of 30 JD-U MLAs in return.
Sources said the Congress, which has 19 legislators in the Bihar assembly, will go by what the Rashtriya Janata Dal decides and its presence will help strengthen the coalition.
Rashtriya Janata Dal president Lalu Prasad's 'samdhi' Chandrika Roy has been nominated by the Janata Dal- United from his traditional Parsa assembly seat, but name of the former Director General of Police Gupteshwar Pandey is missing from the list of 115 candidates released by the party on Wednesday.
Leaders of 38 parties have confirmed their participation in a meeting of the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) to be held in the national capital on Tuesday, Bharatiya Janata Party president J P Nadda said.
Ahead of Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi's floor test, Assembly Speaker Uday Narayan Chaudhary on Thursday granted the status of principal opposition party to the Janata Dal-United in place of the Bharatiya Janata Party, which slammed the move as "arbitrary".
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav also have cases registered against them.
In a surprising move, the Rashtriya Janata Dal announced it would support the new Janata Dal-United government in Bihar headed by Jitan Ram Manjhi.
Notably, Yadav, the younger son of Rashtriya Janata Dal's founding president Lalu Prasad, had steered the 'Mahagathbandhan', which then did not have the chief minister on its side, to an impressive electoral performance in 2020 assembly polls in which the National Democratic Alliance could barely scrape through.
The BJP clarified that it would not be a part of the Manjhi government if he was able to prove his majority.
Top leaders of Opposition parties will brainstorm at a meeting in Patna on Friday to chalk out a roadmap for the formation of an anti-Bharatiya Janata Party front for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, with sources saying that they would look to avoid the prickly leadership question and emphasise on common ground.
A total of 71 assembly segments of the state's 243 constituencies are voting in the first phase in which nearly 2.15 crore voters will decide the electoral fate of over 1,000 candidates.
Polling began on Tuesday morning in 35 constituencies spread across eight districts in the fifth and penultimate phase of the assembly elections in Bihar under the shadow of a boycott call by Maoists. In the 17 constituencies that have been declared 'Maoist-hit', voting began at 7 am and will end at 3 pm. Polling in the remaining constituencies will end at 5 pm.
The RJD is yet to complete its seat-sharing talks with smaller allies and the Left parties.
Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi on Saturday retracted from his 'chopping hands of doctors' comment saying he had used a hindi proverb to convey his feeling on doctors not sincerely serving poor.
The proposed Indian Institute of Management in Bihar will be set up at Bodh Gaya in Gaya district, state Education Minister Brishen Patel said on Wednesday.
Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi has initiated a move to develop his village Mahakar in Gaya district on lines of Kalyanbigha, the hometown of former CM Nitish Kumar and Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad's Phulwaria.
JD-U leader Sharad Yadav speaks about the recent crisis in Bihar
Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi was at the centre of a controversy over the appointment of his son-in-law Devendra Kumar as his personal assistant, evoking sharp criticism following which Kumar resigned from the post.
'For two months, Jitan Ram Manjhi kept a low profile. Once he was put in a place of power even though he had not acquired it himself, he thought he deserved it. He thought he must promote his own political career. Secondly, all those who were opposed to Nitish Kumar, either within the party or outside, started supporting him,' says Professor Prabhat Ghosh, director of the Asian Development Research Institute in Patna.
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