Hemant Soren on Wednesday resigned as Jharkhand chief minister after more than seven hours of questioning by the ED in a money laundering case, and senior JMM leader Champai Soren was named as his successor.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is likely to get a majority in the Rajya Sabha in April this year, once the remaining six vacancies under the nominated category are filled and those newly elected take oath.
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.
Mahto and Yadav, who were reportedly charged with minor offences, were claimed to be serving Lalu as helper and cook.
Singh was widely regarded as an expert in the rural and agricultural landscape of the country and is credited with the conceptualisation and implementation of the NREGA (National Rural Guarantee Employment) Act.
Leaders of several Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) parties met on Saturday to take stock of the opposition's preparations leading up to the June 4 counting of votes polled in the Lok Sabha elections, and claimed they will get more than 295 seats, enough for them to form the next government.
The party leaders said that not only would they quit the cabinet, but also withdraw support from the Grand Alliance.
'Dynastic politics has become a tool of convenience for political parties. The BJP does not hesitate to accept it when it comes to its own alliance or party candidates. The same goes for the others.'
The Congress on Tuesday suffered a major upset in Himachal Pradesh at the hands of the Bharatiya Janata Party in the Rajya Sabha elections which were marred by cross-voting in all the three states though it won three seats in Karnataka while the saffron party pocketed an extra seat in Uttar Pradesh.
"Hemant Soren repeatedly ignored my advice and eventually landed in jail... he has always been surrounded by wrong advisors," Hembrom, a lawmaker from Borio seat in Sahibganj district, told reporters.
Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha leader Derek O' Brien met the agitating farmers at the Singhu border in the afternoon.
CBI judge Shiv Pal Singh directed senior RJD leaders Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, Shivanand Tiwari and Lalu Yadav's son Tejashwi Yadav and Congress leader Manish Tewari to personally appear before the court on January 23.
A senior JD-U leader said Lallan Singh has expressed his desire to give up the top party post.
>Rohini Acharya, Lalu Yadav's daughter who donated her kidney to her father in December 2022, is on her introductory campaign trail in the constituency that has been represented by her father four times.
Forty-two of the 102 Lok Sabha seats going to polls in the general election's first phase are constituencies that have three or more candidates facing criminal cases, according to a poll rights body.
Bihar Deputy CM Samrat Choudhary on Thursday said that the Bharatiya Janata Party has not given up its resolve to form its own government in the state by accepting Janata Dal-United president Nitish Kumar as the chief minister.
Amid speculation that he may do yet another volte face and return to the National Democratic Alliance, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Saturday visited Buxar district, bordering Uttar Pradesh, to attend a function where senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader and Union Minister Ashwani Kumar Choubey was also present.
Basant Soren, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) supremo Shibu Soren's youngest son, on Friday took oath as minister in the Champai Soren-led government in Jharkhand, along with seven others.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was an experienced leader and it would be great if a proposal came to make him the convenor of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), his deputy Tejashwi Yadav said on Wednesday.
The Bharatiya Janata Party suffered stunning losses in three Hindi heartland states, partial poll results showed Tuesday, forcing the party to rely on allies to form the government after a bitter and divisive election that was projected as a referendum on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's popularity.
A Delhi court on Wednesday granted bail to Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad, his wife Rabri Devi and their son and Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav in the alleged land-for-job scam in the railways.
The marathon polling process to elect the 18th Lok Sabha ended on Saturday with the seventh phase of elections witnessing an approximate voter turnout of 62.36 per cent, amid clashes between Trinamool Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party supporters in Sandeshkhali and some other parts of West Bengal.
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.
Training his guns at the Congress, Modi accused the opposition party of having always made false promises of poverty eradication, farm loan waiver and one rank-one pension for retired servicemen.
'Nitish Kumar's newly-formed alliance with BJP would unravel before the 2025 assembly polls in Bihar'
The CBI on Friday told the Supreme Court that RJD supremo Lalu Prasad was playing badminton after being enlarged on bail in a fodder scam case on medical grounds, as it sought cancellation of the relief granted to the former Bihar chief minister.
'...and then react.' 'There are two options before him if the alliance breaks.' 'He either teams up with the BJP or goes for a fresh election.' 'My impression is that he will avoid a fresh election.'
As many as 12 MLAs of the Congress have threatened to boycott the upcoming state assembly session from February 23 and head to Jaipur if the ministers are not replaced with new faces.
Ram Kripal Yadav, who resigned from the Rashtriya Janta Dal after being denied a ticket for the Lok Sabha polls, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in New Delhi on Wednesday.
RJD members in the Lok Sabha, led by Ramkripal Yadav, waving a newspaper clipping and a compact disc, shouted slogans against Fernandes for his remarks against Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
Police attached property of absconding Rajballabh Yadav, a MLA of the ruling RJD who is accused of raping a minor girl and failed to surrender in the court, police said.
'It seems that Modi ji has some hand in the EVMs'
The opposition's Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) will hold a 'maha rally' at Delhi's Ramlila Maidan on March 31 to safeguard the country's interests and democracy, Aam Aadmi Party leader Gopal Rai said on Sunday.
'He has emerged as a formidable leader who cannot be ignored anymore, who cannot be mocked.'
Development economist Jean Dreze said the Indian democracy is currently navigating a crisis that is not only limited to the 'recent wave of authoritarianism' but also suppression of opposition voices by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
Several BJP leaders recalled Kejriwal's claim of probity and past allegations of corruption against politicians, including Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Sharad Pawar among others, while seeking their arrest, as they claimed that he has been exposed now.
Chosen for the country's highest civilian award Bharat Ratna a day ahead of his birth anniversary, Karpoori Thakur has been the veritable 'Jan Nayak' or people's hero of politics in Bihar, whose legacy parties cutting across ideologies seek to claim.
The ED said AB Exports Pvt Ltd is a "shell" or fake company owned by Prasad's son and Bihar deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav and Chanda Yadav (another daughter of the RJD chief) and its registered address is the bungalow located in the New Friends Colony area.
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