Under attack from within and outside, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday came out with an apparent face-saver by accepting tainted former Uttar Pradesh minister Babu Singh Kushwaha's offer to keep his party membership in suspension. "I do not want that as a result of the malicious charges against me, BJP should be made a target of unnecessary controversy," he said.
The Central Bureau of Investigation has examined former Uttar Pradesh Minister Babu Singh Kushwaha's wife in connection with alleged swindling of funds in the National Rural Health Mission.
A senior JD-U leader said Lallan Singh has expressed his desire to give up the top party post.
Acharya will contest from Saran while Bharti will try her luck in the Patliputra LS constituency.
Not everyone in the BJP is happy with the tainted ex-minister entering the party. BJP MP from Gorakhpur, Yogi Adityanath, blamed the BJP leadership for bringing Kushwaha into the party. Sharat Pradhan reports.
Saini's elevation as Haryana chief minister fits in with a pattern that has gathered pace in the BJP after the Congress and its allies like the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh and the Rashtriya Janata Dal in Bihar began making an aggressive bid to woo the largest group of communities and politically most significant, especially in Hindi-speaking states, by pushing for a caste census.
The Delhi Police has written to the company that has installed CCTVs at Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's place to take footage of the incident in which party MP Swati Maliwal was allegedly assaulted at the Chief Minister's house, sources said.
Saturday's voting will mark the end to the marathon polling process that began on April 19 month and has already covered 486 Lok Sabha seats in 28 states and Union territories.
It is a double century with a difference for the cricketer turned politician, who is the lead campaigner for the Opposition Mahagathbandhan in the state.
Several deaths were reported across the country due to rain-related incidents like lightning strikes and drowning.
The Bahujan Samaj Party on Monday expelled former Family Welfare Minister Babu Singh Kushwaha, once a close confidant of Mayawati who was removed from her cabinet in the wake of the killing of two chief medical officers and the National Rural Health Mission scam.
Majority of these constituencies are in Uttar Pradesh and the party that is on the third slot even as the counting is still underway on several seats is the Bahujan Samaj Party, a party neither with the National Democratic Alliance nor the opposition INDIA bloc.
The bus had gone to Delhi and was plying on the wrong side of the expressway after refilling CNG near Ghazipur border.
'Is the Agniveer scheme or their post-retirement re-employment in paramilitary forces or in the state governments the BJP's answer to the crying need on the job front?' 'Or, even Finance Minister Sitharaman's one-year internship scheme in the public and private sector, is it a permanent solution, either?', asks N Sathiya Moorthy.
'Lalu is Lalu. His presence in the election campaign will make a difference for the Mahagathbandhan.'
The incident took place in Lateri town, located 90 km from the district headquarters, on Sunday following which the victim's family and other locals staged a protest till late night.
Taking on the Bharatiya Janata Party over the induction of tainted former Bahujan Samaj Party minister Babu Singh Kushwaha, Rahul Gandhi on Saturday claimed that he wanted to join the Congress after being sacked by Chief Minister Mayawati, but the party closed the doors on him. Addressing election meetings in Gorapkhpur, the All India Congress Committee general secretary also said the BJP has inducted a person who is part of the "corruption race" in the state.
Talking to reporters in Patna, the former Union minister asserted that he would happily function as 'an ordinary party worker, worth five rupees', if the JD-U leadership was assumed by 'anybody from among the Luv Kush Samaj (Kurmis and Koeris) or the EBCs whose aspirations have been the party's driving force'.
Manjhi's son Santosh Suman, who is a minister in the Nitish Kumar cabinet, made the statement a day after reports emerged that a seat-sharing formula has been arrived at in the National Democratic Alliance, and the HAM was likely to get only one of the state's 40 constituencies.
Amid deepening fissures in Kumar's ties with the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Congress, BJP leaders have indicated that they are open to tying up with him again.
Bihar assembly Speaker Awadh Bihari Chaudhary on Sunday called on Rashtriya Janata Dal president Lalu Prasad Yadav, at a time when the state was witnessing a big political churn.
He even used foul language against the MLA and told her to leave the office, Singh alleged.
As many as 28 legislators, including former Union minister Prahlad Patel and Bharatiya Janata Party national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya, were on Monday inducted into the Madhya Pradesh cabinet led by Chief Minister Mohan Yadav.
This will be the first time the BJP has got more seats than Chief Minister Nitish Kumar-led JD-U in Bihar, underscoring the change in their equations after they joined hands a few months back.
Mishra lost from Datia seat by a margin of 7,742 votes to Congress candidate Rajendra Bharti.
Notwithstanding the controversy over his joining the party, the Bharatiya Janata Party feels that tainted former Bahujan Samaj Party leader Babu Singh Kushwaha's support to it could bolster its prospects in the elections in Uttar Pradesh.
The prisons department had on Thursday issued an order for the premature release of Amarmani Tripathi, citing the state's 2018 policy on remission, since they have completed 16 years of imprisonment.
In a poor village of daily wage earners in Siwan, Bihar, people speak about their hard lives and why they vote.
Kushwaha made the exasperated remark in reply to queries from journalists about Singh's relentless, and often personal, attacks on Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Chandra Shekhar's uncharitable remarks about Ramcharitmanas which triggered a controversy.
Modi also alleged the opposition grouping will end the reservation given to SC, ST, OBC and give all of it to Muslims.
The Congress on Friday saw a tacit understanding between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party in the induction of tainted former Uttar Pradesh minister Babu Singh Kushwaha in the saffron party saying the two parties were birds of the same feather who flock together.
'I have to take a stand to strengthen it. I cannot sit silent.'
'We will be happy if Nitishji becomes convenor of INDIA.'
The BJP attacked Kejriwal after he refused to comment on the Maliwal "assault" matter during a press conference in Lucknow. He was flanked by Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav and AAP Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh.
The win propelled India to the second position in Pool C, enough to earn them a last eight berth.
'Wrong feedback was given against Parasji to the top BJP leadership in New Delhi by a senior BJP leader, who is also a Union minister from Bihar.' 'He deliberately provided wrong information about the RLJP to the BJP leadership to help Chirag Paswan.'
Asian champions India are placed in Pool C alongside Canada, South Korea and Spain. They start their tournament campaign against Korea on December 5.
Indian colts' victory was backed by a grand show of character to hold off pressure from the Dutch side, and the cynosure of India's defence was Rohit who was hard to breach -- he blocked away six successive penalty corners in the final quarter ensuring India emerge victorious. He was awarded player of the match for his efforts.
'Laluji is like my father and I am like his son.'
'The JD-U is my party and of thousands of leaders and workers.' 'It is certainly not Nitish Kumar's party.'