The JD-U leader rubbished speculations that he was maintaining an eloquent silence on the issue because of anxieties about tarnishing his own image for probity by aligning with "tainted" politicians and could even be thinking of breaking away with the "Mahagathbandhan", which besides RJD, also includes Congress and the Left.
About 2.34 crore voters, spread across 78 assembly segments of the 243-strong assembly, will decide the fates of 1,204 candidates, including the Speaker and 12 members of the state cabinet.
Kumar, whose "national role" has become a matter of much speculation since his break-up with the Bharatiya Janata Party last month, however also sought to rule himself out, for the umpteenth time, of the Prime Ministerial race.
Joining the chorus of protests over remarks on Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi at Janata Dal-United conclave, Bihar Bharatiya Janata Party stalwart and Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi on Tuesday termed the developments "unfortunate" and said the party parliamentary board would take a call on the emerging situation at an appropriate time.
Kumar had added colour to 'lotus', election symbol of the BJP, when Devi had invited him at 23rd Patna Book Fair on Saturday to paint her drawing.
Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma added to the mystery by declaring only that the next CM would be from the BJP, without naming Sarbananda Sonowal, the CM of the outgoing government.
Unfazed by strident criticism of his cousin Maharashtra Navnirman Sena leader Raj Thackeray over his anti-Bihari remarks, Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday sought a permit system to check the influx of Bihari migrants into Mumbai.
Earlier, The Nitish Kumar government had banned sale and consumption of country and spiced liquor in rural areas from April 1 this year, but had allowed sale of foreign liquor in towns and cities.
A day after his landslide victory in the Bihar assembly polls, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was on Thursday elected as the leader of the National Democratic Alliance legislature party in the 15th Bihar assembly.
JD-U national president Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan, who addressed a press conference in Patna, however, dismissed queries about Kumar's absence at the NITI Aayog meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with the terse remark 'you should ask the chief minister'.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has written an open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in which he makes a strong objection to the latter's comment about his "DNA" at a recent election rally in the state.
'The Mallahs may remain divided between the two competing coalitions in Bihar,' says Mohammad Sajjad.
Ironically, rival Tamil Nadu governments expend the most on social welfare schemes, especially targeting women and youth and children, but that money comes only by selling more liquor. There is always the specious plea, which has been peddled very many times in the past, that without licensed liquor, drinkers would go after hooch and there could be more hooch tragedies and hooch deaths. No one is convinced, but no one can dispute it either, comments N Sathiya Moorthy.
Launching a veiled attack on Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad, who he did not mention by name, Modi said Bihar has come out of an era when rail, road and internet connectivity were made light of and people used to say of what use roads are for those who walk on their feet.
The Bihar CM criticised Modi, alleging that he was trying to stifle freedom of speech and expression after a IIT-Madras students' group was de-recognised for being critical of the PM.
The alliance leaders are getting together for the third round of the brainstorming session in Mumbai, after Patna and Bengaluru, to chalk out their common campaign strategy to take on the NDA in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Even as the grand old party seeks to promote opposition unity ahead of the hustings next year, Trinamool Congress supremo and West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, however, would be conspicuous by her absence at the event at Sree Kanteerava Stadium.
Taking to his social media accounts, Kumar said his government would provide monthly stipends for the bereaved children, boarding facility for those left with no caretaker, and give special impetus to education of orphaned girls.
State BJP spokesperson and OBC Morcha national general secretary Nikhil Anand came out with a stinging statement against the young Rashtriya Janata Dal leader in response to a press conference held by the latter.
The TMC chief, however, parried questions on her reservations about the Congress's alliance with the Left in her state and the Aam Aadmi Party threatening a "walkout" if support was not forthcoming on the ordinance of control of services in Delhi.
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.
'Laluji personally telephoned several Opposition leaders to attend the meeting.'
The Bihar CM may be in the Opposition but his endorsement of Ram Nath Kovind, the NDA's presidential candidate, is among the many recent decisions that puts him apart from the others.
KTR indirectly referred to the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said the country does not need opposition unity on the basis of blind hatred against one party or one man, but on a positive model of governance
What some of our leaders were up to on Wednesday, April 12, 2023.
Sticking to his offer of 11 Lok Sabha seats to the Congress and one to Nationalist Congress Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal supremo Lalu Prasad on Sunday appealed to Sonia Gandhi to agree to the seat-sharing formula asserting that he would deliver results in Bihar and Jharkhand in the general elections.
A Bihar court has ordered the police to file a case against Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan for his alleged anti-Bihar remarks, official sources said on Tuesday.The chief judicial magistrate in Bettiah, the district headquarters of West Champaran, has ordered the town's police station to lodge a case against Chauhan.The court's order was in response to a petition filed by lawyer Murad Ali, who claimed that Chauhan had made a comment against Bihar.
A day after the Patna high court slammed the Bihar government for its poor handling of the second wave of the pandemic and sought to know whether it was enforcing lockdown or not, the administration on Tuesday announced imposition of lockdown from May 5 to May 15.
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