The Union home minister recalled that the BJP had won far greater number of seats in the last assembly polls than the JD(U) but Prime Minister Narendra Modi kept up his promise to back Kumar for another term in office.
Kumar, who is now heading an alliance government in Bihar which includes the Rashtriya Janata Dal, the Congress and the Left, has reached out to leaders like Arvind Kejriwal, Mamata Banerjee, Akhilesh Yadav, all of whom are opposed to the BJP but not very comfortable with the grand old party either.
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.
Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav on Friday claimed that Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had 'begged for forgiveness for past betrayals' before his parents, party supremo Lalu Prasad and ex-CM Rabri Devi, before they allied with the Janata Dal-United president in 2022.
Bharti accused the media of distorting her statement, attributing it to the BJP's agenda.
The opposition BJP charged Kumar with "bringing shame" to the state's women by speaking of the procreation process in detail.
Former Bihar chief minister and BJP ally Jitan Ram Manjhi alleged on Wednesday that five MPs, including a Union minister, have been elected to Lok Sabha from seats reserved for the Scheduled Castes on the basis of "forged" certificates and sought an inquiry.
Despite the BJP emerging as the largest party in the ruling alliance with 74 seats, 31 more than the JDU, the top leadership of the saffron party, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has emphatically endorsed Kumar as the next chief minister.
The authorities in Bihar have registered an FIR against Khan Sir and five teachers for allegedly inciting violence over the controversy surrounding the results of tests conducted by the RRB-NTPC after the recent violent protests in Patna.
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.
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.
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.
The electoral exercise, the first since the Lok Sabha elections, will decide the fate of many veterans and some debutantes including Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu's wife Kamlesh Thakur.
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.
Two empty chairs -- one each for jailed Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal former and former Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren -- were kept on stage as the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) organised a mega rally in Ranchi on Ranchi.
Ahead of the day-long Opposition meeting on Friday, Samvad Bhavan, Rajkiye Atithisala and Sadaquat Ashram have got a facelift.
The rumours have primarily been about the impending resignation of JD-U national president Rajiv Ranjan Singh 'Lalan', for alleged proximity towards ally Rashtriya Janaat Dal at the expense of loyalty to his own party.
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.
'They were as late as June 2023 and they did not follow it up with concrete measures immediately in terms of a secretariat or common minimum programme, working group or seat sharing etc.' 'They continued to have periodic meetings after a gap of weeks where they had tasty dinner and coffee, but beside that they did nothing else.'
'Rahul is not even a lamp before the sun'
Pressure from the Soren clan is only one of the challenges Champai faces as he readies himself to helm the predominantly tribal state.
Huma Qureshi's Rani Bharti was the ace in the pack, but everything that she does in this season smacks more of script conveniences than careful plotting, observes Deepa Gahlot.
'There is a strong possibility that the BJP's seats are going to be much higher compared to the JD-U and this would be the turning point for the BJP.'
"I challenge BJP to prove corruption charges against me. If proved, I will resign from politics," said Hemant Soren.
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.
Former Lok Janshakti Party president Chirag Paswan on Sunday asserted that every party wants him to be on its side, indicating he could tilt towards the one that offered a better bargain.
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.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah himself sounded more open to such a possibility in a recent interview.
The speculation was triggered after Shravan Kumar, a Bihar minister, who is also the Janata Dal-United's in-charge for UP, said there were 'demands' that the party boss enter the fray from the adjoining state.
The notification issued by the law ministry on Monday night said the maximum expenditure a candidate can incur for campaigning in Lok Sabha polls is now Rs 77 lakh. It was so far Rs 70 lakh. For assemblies, it has been hiked from Rs 28 lakh to Rs 30.8 lakh.
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 leaders attacked the BJP, accusing it of trying to create "Hindu-Muslim disturbances" to benefit politically and making false claims and promises.
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.
Startling allegations of backstabbing were made against the Bharatiya Janata Party by MLAs and MPs of the Janata Dal-United on Tuesday at a meeting in Patna after which Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar pulled the plug on the alliance.
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.
The BJP, which has traditionally been considered as the party of upper castes and Vaishyas/Baniyas, seems to be consolidating its base especially among Vaishyas and EBCs.
Voting for the bypolls in Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Tamil Nadu were held on Wednesday.
The Nitish Kumar government appeared to be heading for a showdown with Bihar Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar as the Raj Bhavan reversed an order of the state administration to freeze bank accounts of two officials of Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar Bihar University in Muzaffarpur.
