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.
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.
They are political rivals, but when it comes to celebrating Bihar Diwas in Mumbai, Lalu Prasad Yadav's Rashtriya Janata Dal has backed Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and has urged him to ignore Maharashtra Navnirman Sena's threat. The impending visit on April 15 has become controversial in Maharashtra.
'Lalu is Lalu. His presence in the election campaign will make a difference for the Mahagathbandhan.'
'Every vote given to Nitish Kumar ji will not only weaken and ruin Bihar, but will also strengthen the RJD and the Grand Alliance. He has done preparations to leave the BJP and go with the RJD after the elections,' he said in a tweet.
While the Rashtriya Janata Dal and Janata Dal-United are busy fighting each other, the BJP is trying not to repeat the mistakes it made the last time out, says Satyavrat Mishra
Putting pressure on ally Congress, Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad on Saturday offered 11 seats to the Congress and asked the party to give its acceptance by Sunday, before a meeting of the party's Parliamentary Board.
"Lalu ji had madhur sambandh (cordial relations) with my father and political mentor Ram Vilas Paswan. I thank him for lending credence to my leadership. But, my current priority is the ongoing state-wide Ashirwad Yatra", Chirag told reporters in Patna.
Bihar MP Pappu Yadav said he could 'finish off within 24 hours' the network of Lawrence Bishnoi who is suspected to be behind the assassination of former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddiqui.
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.
'The poor manner in which the RJD stitched its alliance and mismanaged its electioneering, now reveals that Tejashwi was more interested in enhancing his political stature by cutting down many senior leaders, by downsizing and shrinking RJD allies, by displaying arrogance and inaccessibility and by committing silly mistakes in candidate selection,' points out Mohammad Sajjad.
The ruling National Democratic Alliance in Bihar on Monday sparred with the opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal over items allegedly stolen from a government bungalow recently vacated by Tejashwi Yadav, to whom it was allotted while he was the state's deputy chief minister.
Governor Phagu Chauhan and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar have also been provided with 'Z-plus' security.
Members of JD-U, RJD and Congress which have given enough hint of fighting together against BJP in the coming state assembly election next year, jointly rushed into the well of both the Houses demanding action against Dhankhar and his "close friend" Sushil Kumar Modi.
Gourav Vallabh joined the Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday hours after he quit the Congress, saying he can neither raise anti-Sanatan slogans nor abuse "wealth creators" day in and day out and was joining the ruling party due to his support for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's agenda of "Viksit Bharat".
Sources said the Congress, which has 19 legislators in the Bihar assembly, will go by what the Rashtriya Janata Dal decides and its presence will help strengthen the coalition.
Facing criticism over his appointment as Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar, RJD chief Lalu Prasad's son Tejaswi Yadav on Monday promised to take the state forward on the path of development and asserted that he would have a zero tolerance approach towards corruption.
Nitish Kumar wants to assure the BJP leadership that he will continue to be a part of the NDA. But he also wants to secure a larger number of seats for his party in the 2025 assembly elections in Bihar.
In his letter to Kumar, the veteran leader has made a series of suggestions including an amendment in Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Gurantee Act, bringing Lord Buddha's begging bowl from Kabul and hoisting tricolor at Vaishali, the land of world's first Republic.
Kumar, whose NDA-allied Janata Dal-United has won 12 of the 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar, has emerged as a key player in government formation
With 'go solo' being the mantra for Congress after its success in Lok Sabha polls in Uttar Pradesh, the party is now set to dump Lalu Prasad's Rashtriya Janata Dal in the Bihar assembly elections scheduled later this year. An indication to this effect came when All Indian Congress Committee in-charge of the state Jagdish Tytler and Pradesh Congress Committee president Anil Sharma recently met party president Sonia Gandhi.
Else, warns rebel party MLA, the RJD will split.
At many places, Kumar lost his cool and chided the protestors for "acting on behalf of political rivals".
On Tuesday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah exuded confidence that the BJP would win the 2024 Lok Sabha elections by an even bigger majority.
Rahul Gandhi made the statement on January 15, 2025, during the inauguration of the Congress Party's new headquarters at Kotla Road in Delhi.
The no-frills ceremony comes a day after Kumar snapped ties with the BJP-led NDA and joined hands with the RJD to form a 'mahagathbandhan' government.
The 33-year-old, who steered his party to an impressive show in the Bihar assembly polls last year thereby emerging out of the shadow of his father Lalu Prasad, underscored that the opposition needed to bring in "dhaar" (edge) and "nayaapan" (novelty) in its electoral issues.
This Bhumihar leader has always been party supremo Kumar's strength, as this caste in Bihar is known to have wide political influence despite its small size.
The jovial RJD chief, known for his earthy humours, apparently could not digest that his party drew a blank in its stronghold Bihar and also in the neighbouring Jharkhand.
Nitish Kumar has again proven that he is a master of the art of changing governments.
The CPI says its candidate Kanhaiya Kumar is getting 'excellent' support from all segments of society in Begusarai.
'The moment a new election comes, new guarantees are announced.' 'The BJP is adept at diverting people's attention.'
Rashtriya Janata Dal president Lalu Prasad Yadav on Tuesday said he was in favour of extending reservation benefits to Muslims but emphasised that it should be based on social backwardness and 'not on the basis of religion'.
Former Rashtriya Janata Dal leader and Madhepura MP Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav on Sunday announced the formation of Jan Karanti Adhikar Morcha aimed at providing a "strong third option" to Bihar voters.
The Supreme Court has dismissed a petition challenging the appointment of Nitish Kumar as chief minister of Bihar after his party forged a new alliance in August, saying post-poll alignments subject to certain conditions is permissible under the anti-defection law.
Intensifying its attack against Union Railway Minister and RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav for his proposed chetawani rally against Bihar's National Democratic Alliance government, the ruling Janata Dal United asked him to explain the rationale behind the protest rally. "You tell us why you are so furious and organising the chetawani rally when we are making all efforts to achieve all-round growth of the state," JD-U national spokesman Shivanand Tiwari said in Patna.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal-United said it was the right time to withdraw the general consent to the CBI.
Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav on Thursday asserted that 'something major' will take place, after Lok Sabha results are out, in Bihar where Chief Minister Nitish Kumar seemed to be 'not going along well' with ally Bharatiya Janata Party.
The NDA has retained Bihar with a wafer-thin majority of 125 seats in the 243-member assembly, paving the way for a fourth term for CM Nitish Kumar.
The RJD tweeted, "In almost 10 seats, the Nitish administration is delaying the count and not giving certificates to the winning candidates. Sitting in the CM's residence, Nitish Kumar and Sushil Modi are putting pressure on DMs and ROs through phone calls by the CM's principal secretary to decide closely contested seats in their favour."
