Police in Odisha's Jajpur district have arrested five people in connection with the poisoning death of a 39-year-old man, Santosh Malik, following a property dispute and subsequent conspiracy.
Opposition members in the Bihar legislative council were suspended and evicted after demanding an apology from Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for allegedly using foul language against their leader Rabri Devi, leading to a day of disruption and accusations from both sides.
His inheritance was a double-edged sword because the NDA was understandably interested only in highlighting that part of the RJD's tenure in government that evokes kidnapping, extortion, and lawlessness.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar engaged in a heated exchange with Leader of the Opposition Rabri Devi in the Legislative Council, dismissing her as "inconsequential" without her husband, RJD president Lalu Prasad. The spat stemmed from RJD MLCs wearing badges promoting quota hikes passed during Tejashwi Yadav's tenure as Deputy CM, which Nitish Kumar perceived as an attempt to claim credit for the populist move. Kumar also remarked that Rabri Devi was only propped up by her husband when he was in trouble, referring to her becoming Chief Minister in 1997 while Lalu Prasad faced corruption charges. The war of words between the two rivals has intensified, with the RJD accusing Kumar of losing his mental balance and being unfit to rule.
Rashtriya Janata Dal president Lalu Prasad Yadav on Wednesday dropped hints that the Mahagathbandhan helmed by his party might bring on board former Union minister Pashupati Kumar Paras, whom the National Democratic Alliance has sidelined in favour of estranged nephew Chirag Paswan.
Temples across Uttar Pradesh were packed with devotees on Sunday for Ram Navami, with Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath leading prayers at the Gorakhnath Temple. Heavy crowds were witnessed at temples in Lucknow, Gorakhpur, and Varanasi, where security was heightened. In Gorakhpur, Adityanath performed the traditional kanya pujan ritual, while in Varanasi, a 51-foot statue of Lord Ram has become a major attraction. The festival was celebrated with enthusiastic fervor across the state.
Upset about being snubbed by INDIA, Nitish Kumar is weighing his political options. BJP would like him back knowing that it would jolt the Opposition alliance, perhaps irreversibly.
Ma Durga might be the city's most celebrated annual visitor, but Kali is the resident Goddess, notes Sandip Roy.
'Durga Puja is also a time to catch up on the gossip and when the girls of the family get together it's a beautiful feeling that is hard to describe.'
The event that was inaugurated by five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand will have 11 rounds before the best player in the under-20 category can be determined in both sections.
Thakur's tenure as chief minister is best remembered for implementation of the recommendations of the Mungeri Lal Commission, whereby quotas for backward classes were introduced in the state in 1978. This panel was the forerunner of the Mandal Commission. Both Mungeri Lal and B P Mandal were from Bihar, which has a long history of socialist struggles.
The party also decided to field Narpat Singh Rajvi from Chittorgarh after its earlier decision to deny the five-term MLA, who is the son-in-law of its stalwart leader Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, renomination from his Vidhyadhar Nagar seat. This triggered a backlash from a section of party workers.
She claimed that officials haven't given her any deadline when she will get the body.
In the last assembly elections in 2018, the state recorded a voter turnout of 74.06 per cent. The Election Commission has set a target of at least 75 per cent turnout in each constituency this time.
Dharmendra Kumar Singh says the Bihar chief minister may be fighting a losing battle.
"Azad, who was involved in the killing of BJP leader Waseem Bari, his father and brother last July, is a locally trained terrorist while Abid is a Pakistan-trained terrorist," said Vijay Kumar, Inspector General of Kashmir police.
Mehraj Din Malla was abducted on Wednesday morning, following which, police had launched a search operation in the area.
Portfolios were on Tuesday allocated in the new Bihar cabinet headed by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar who, predictably, retained the all-important home department which helps him keep direct control on the state police.
The Rashtriya Janata Dal national executive meeting on Sunday witnessed a ruckus as RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav's elder son and Bihar cabinet minister Tej Pratap Yadav came out of the meeting fuming and called the party's national general secretary Shyam Rajak an agent of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.
Veteran actor Tabassum, known for her work as a child artiste in several Hindi classics and also as host of popular Doordarshan talk show Phool Khile Hain Gulshan Gulshan, has died after suffering a cardiac arrest, her son Hoshang Govil said on Saturday. She was 78.
Nitish Kumar has lost his credibility. He is now only a weak ally of the BJP. And he may no longer have a shot at a national role.
Lalu Prasad's eldest daughter Misa Bharti, a Rajya Sabha MP, and elder son Tej Pratap Yadav have been omitted from RJD's star campaigners' list released on Thursday for the upcoming by-elections to a couple of assembly seats in Bihar, a development seen as an attempt to push them to the margins in an intra-family feud to control the single largest party in the state assembly.
Twelve policemen were killed on Saturday when their jeep was blown up in a landmine blast in Maoist infested East Singhbhum district of Jharkhand.The policemen led by sub-inspector Ravi Kant, in-charge of the Digha police picket, were on a long-range patrol when the landmine planted by suspected Maoists exploded, said Deputy Superintendent of Police Madhusudan Bari.All the 12 occupants of the truck died on the spot.
'It is a matter of concern. The number of forces on a 'naka' point is less and is normally in a remote area where they (terrorists) conceal themselves by coming along with civilians and then fire on the forces. We have faced losses and they have managed to flee a few times, but, we will soon find a response to this tactic and end this problem'
The 'secularists'are more adept at the politics of intense and alarmingly exaggerated fear-mongering, as this kind of politics provides easy votes of Muslims without making them answerable for the concrete issues of poverty, unemployment, lawlessness, and of basic needs like roads, electricity, etc, which is exactly how Nitish Kumar was defeated in the elections, says Mohammad Sajjad.
They had said they wanted to protest, while maintaining social distancing, against the attack on the family of a party supporter in which case a Janata Dal-United MLA has been named as an accused.
The ruling coalition won 125 seats in the 243-member state assembly against 110 clinched by the opposition Grand Alliance to pave the way for a fourth successive term for Kumar in office.
The Rashtriya Janata Dal with 19 seats, Congress on 9, Rashtriya Lok Samta Party on 5, Hindustani Awam Morcha and Vikassheel Insan Party -- in phases three to seven of the general elections.
The actor-turned-writer talks about his new film.
Leader of opposition in Bihar Abdul Bari Siddiqui today suggested Anna Hazare and his aides to launch a movement against corruption from the state.
Asking the people of Bihar to bring their own government to power, the post made a veiled reference to the alleged high handedness of bureaucracy under the JD(U)-BJP rule but fell shy of a frontal attack on Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, his arch rival, or the near hegemonic saffron party which considers him a bete noire.
'Ours is a diverse culture and we ought to respect each other's customs. People must not be coerced into exhibiting their patriotism in one particular way'
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday lamented that a section of people start "chanting" 'Jungle Raj' after every incident of crime in the state and said the government has decided to set up a battalion for safeguarding banks and other such establishments.
A sterling performance by skipper Sanjeev Kumar powered India to a 46-34 win over Bangladesh in the last tie on Thursday.
Janata Dal-United leader Nitish Kumar will take oath as chief minister of Bihar on February 22, ending weeks of political uncertainty in the state.
On his PIL, the SC had in 2013 directed the Centre and the states to set up a Civil Services Board to decide on transfers of officers.
Senior Janata Dal-United leader Shivanand Tiwari on Tuesday attacked Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar saying he feigned ignorance about the major upheaval in Rashtriya Janata Dal despite being the "sutradhaar" (mover) of the event.
As Bihar awaits the results in the much-awaited polls, Rediff.com takes a look at some of those leaders who won and lost.
A jawan of the Special Task Force was killed and two others were injured when Maoists fired at them in Bihar's Jamui district in the wee hours of Friday.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday rubbished reports that he was trying to engineer defection in Rashtriya Janata Dal to bolster numbers of his government which at present is surviving on support of Independents and Congress Legislators.
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