The CBI suspects that Yadav had played a crucial role in facilitating the jobs and later, the transfer of land to Prasad's family.
College students in Bihar, many first-time voters, express concerns about job opportunities and education quality ahead of the state elections, desiring a government focused on employment and strengthening the education system.
A SWOT analysis of the INDIA bloc, led by the RJD-Congress combine, as Bihar prepares for Assembly elections. Examines strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats facing the opposition alliance.
The CBI has named Prasad, his wife Rabri Devi, and daughters Misa Bharti and Hema Yadav, in addition to 12 people who were given jobs in Railway zones of Mumbai, Jabalpur, Kolkata, Jaipur, Hajipur, the officials said.
Ailing Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad has returned to his home turf Bihar, amid escalating political temperatures over issues of caste census, the Rajya Sabha biennial polls and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registering yet another corruption case against the septuagenarian.
The stage is set for the crucial first phase of the assembly elections in Bihar on Thursday, as 3.75 crore voters will decide the electoral fate of 1,314 candidates, including top leaders such as Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance's (INDIA's) chief ministerial face Tejashwi Yadav and Deputy CM Samrat Choudhary of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
The formidable political leader and former union minister was sentenced by a special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court to five years' prison term and slapped with a fine of Rs 60 lakh during the day in connection with the embezzlement of Rs 139 crore from Doranda treasury in the fodder scam.
The CBI has already filed a charge sheet in the case against Prasad, Rabri Devi and 14 others under charges of criminal conspiracy and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, in which all the accused have been summoned on March 15, they said.
Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi has sent a recommendation to Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi to sack two state cabinet ministers.
A bench of Justices Ajay Rastogi and Bela M Trivedi said it is not issuing notice but tagging the matter with the pending similar appeal also filed by the CBI.
The first phase of Bihar assembly elections saw a moderate pace of polling across 121 constituencies, with 53.77% voter turnout reported till 3 pm. Sporadic incidents of violence were also reported. Key leaders are in the fray for both the ruling NDA and the opposition INDIA bloc.
As per the Supreme Court order, the verdict on the petition had to be delivered before the court closes for the summer vacation from May 21.
The Nitish Kumar government in Bihar on Tuesday announced 10 per cent reservation for economically weaker sections (EWS) in the judicial services, and the state-run law colleges and universities.
Aishwarya, the estranged daughter-in-law of RJD president Lalu Prasad, claims that the expulsion of her husband Tej Pratap Yadav from the party was a "drama" enacted with an eye on upcoming Bihar assembly polls. She also accuses her in-laws of ruining her life by getting her married to Tej Pratap.
Former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, lodged in the Birsa Munda Central Jail after his conviction in the fodder scam case on Monday, will hear the arguments on the quantum of sentence and the punishment on October 3 in the jail through videoconferencing.
Lalu recalled that it was the place where he burnt midnight oil finalising strategies to arrest senior BJP leader L K Advani and Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Ashok Singhal.
'We have been struggling with problems, but we want to elect Tejashwi to see him as the next chief minister.'
The bench rejected Yadav's arguments that he has been in jail for 24 months, saying in comparison to the 14-year sentence awarded to him, 24 months was nothing.
'The question for the TMC is not whether it can hold its bastions, but whether it can expand effectively into regions where the BJP already possesses a good ecosystem.'
In a major embarrassment to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's development politics, his party colleague Janata Dal-United president Sharad Yadav has accused him of not coming out of caste politics.
'The RJD is a family centric party and its top leadership's main concern is only to promote the family.'
The Enforcement Directorate has issued a fresh summons to Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav in the railway land-for-jobs scam case, asking him to appear on January 5, official sources said on Saturday.
"I have already sent a letter to Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and spoken to Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav and Union Steel Minister Ramvilas Paswan, to use their influence in the Union government to stop attacks on Biharis. Now I am going to write to the Prime Minister," he said, when some opposition members in the state legislative council raised the issue.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has announced his support for the contentious Women's Reservation Bill that will be tabled in the Rajya Sabha on Monday.His stance has taken those leaders fighting against the bill, including Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, Samajwadi Party chief Mulauyam Singh and his own party chief Janata Dal - United president Sharad Yadav, by surprise."I am in support of the Women's Reservation Bill in its present form," Nitish said.
He also met Gandhi's political secretary Ahmed Patel.
Gandhi alleged that assembly and Lok Sabha polls were being "stolen" across the country and there was a "conspiracy" in Bihar to do the same through the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls.
In a ghastly incident that has sent shock waves across Bihar, former state minister Mukesh Sahni's 70-year-old father was found stabbed to death at his native home in Darbhanga district, a top police officer said.
'For the BJP, development is nothing more than a jumla,' says Tejaswi Yadav.
The Bihar unit of Samajwadi Party, which had protested over denial of seats in the grand alliance for Bihar Assembly polls, claimed to have fruitful talks with the alliance partners Rashtriya Janata Dal President Lalu Prasad and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar over seat sharing.
Pappu Yadav has been asserting that he will contest the seat he had won thrice in the 1990s, with the claim of "assurances" from Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi.
Rashtriya Janata Dal supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav and his wife and former Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi may have to vacate their official sprawling bungalow in Pata following the party's humiliating defeat in the recent assembly elections in the state.
Senior Congress leader Ashok Gehlot on Wednesday met Rashtriya Janata Dal president Lalu Prasad Yadav, apparently with the mandate to defuse tensions with the ally, which has plunged the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) into turmoil in poll-bound Bihar.
LJP candidates had split the United Progressive Alliance votes but Paswan's party had also lost out in the process, Lalu said.
'I want to ask the entire nation and the opposition. Can a Chief Minister, Prime Minister, or any leader run the country from jail?'
'We will be happy if Nitishji becomes convenor of INDIA.'
After taking pot shots at each other under the guise of poetry, the war of words between Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar shows no sings of abating."Lalu Prasad is not a trusted politician as he had failed to deliver during his 15 year regime in Bihar. What he is promising today is a mere political gimmick," Nitish Kumar said while reacting to Lalu's campaign promise that he would give free motorcycles and petrol to students.
Today, a friendship forged by common ideals behind prison walls has become a transactional understanding, notes Aditi Phadnis.
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