The political uproar continues in Bihar, as Chief Minister Nitish Kumar alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party wanted to make R C P Singh the Eknath Shinde of Bihar and isolate the Janata Dal-United party.
"I will not contest the coming assembly polls in October-November. There is no need for it as I am a member of legislative council," he said at Janata Dal-United headquarters in Patna.
Manjhi's son Santosh Suman, who is a minister in the Nitish Kumar cabinet, made the statement a day after reports emerged that a seat-sharing formula has been arrived at in the National Democratic Alliance, and the HAM was likely to get only one of the state's 40 constituencies.
The chief minister's decision came on a day when two top Bharatiya Janata Party leaders returned the gifts given to them by the Education Department amid indications that others may follow suit.
Sanjeev Kumar alias Sanjeev 'Mukhiya', an alleged kingpin behind the NEET paper leak, was not only minting money but wanted to become an MP or MLA.
The development came on a day Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah arrived on a three-day visit to the state capital.
He was administered the oath of office and secrecy by Patna High Court Chief Justice J N Bhat, in a ceremony at the Raj Bhavan.
Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal-United on Sunday exuded confidence that its national president, who was sworn in as Bihar CM for a record ninth time after forming a new government with the Bharatiya Janata Party, will win Monday's trust vote.
Cracks are widening within Bihar BJP with more party legislators coming in the open and alleging lack of inner democracy with one MLA openly vouching for Chief Minister Nitish Kumar saying he would serve as a better prime minister.
According to Singh, four youths entered in his office and wanted to know that who had written the news about man arrested for intimidating voters during Panchayat elections a few days ago.
The Bihar CM has requested the governor for a secret ballot.
'At the moment, we are supporting the Nitish Kumar-led government.' 'When the time comes for this government to fall, it will.'
Abdul Jalil Mastan caught on camera asking a crowd at a note ban protest to hit with shoes the photograph of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, sparking condemnation and kicking up a ruckus in the state legislature.
It was a day of mayhem for the main opposition party as S M Qamar Alam, a national general secretary of the RJD, walked to the chamber of Vidhan Parishad Acting chairman Awadhesh Narain Singh along with four others to tender their resignation. The other MLCs who resigned are Sanjay Prasad, Radha Charan Seth, Ranvijay Kumar Singh and Dlip Rai.
Names of eight-term MLA from Gaya town Prem Kumar and that of Kameshwar Choupal, a Dalit MLC who had laid the foundation stone for the temple at Ayodhya in the 1990s, are also doing the rounds for the post in the political circles.
The party is likely to take a decision in a couple of days, with the nomination for the first phase of three phase-polls set to begin from October 1, they said.
Kumar had shared the dais with the Council Acting Chairman during the oath ceremony of newly elected MLCs on July 1.
"All your queries would be answered at an appropriate time," he told journalists.
Forty-five cows, 20 calves and a double barrel gun with 50 cartridges are among the possessions of former Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi who is contesting the Lok Sabha polls as a Rashtriya Janata Dal candidate from Saran constituency.
Amid reports of Nitish Kumar shifting to Delhi as Rajya Sabha member to play a bigger role in uniting parties against the Bharatiya Janata Party, Bihar Janata Dal-United President Basistha Narayan Singh on Saturday dismissed any such possibility terming the reports as "imaginary."
'Our approach is forward-looking. The central leadership wants young leaders to lead the charge now. This will also send a clear signal that lapses will not be tolerated. We are targeting beyond 2025.' Satyavrat Mishra reports.
Dissension surfaced within the Bharatiya Janata party over choice of leader of opposition in the Bihar Assembly with a section of legislators protesting selection of Nand Kishore Yadav to the post without discussion with members of Legislative Assembly.
Barring dissident MLC Rameshwar Mahto, who has an axe to grind against some ministers close to the CM, legislators and office bearers of the party chose to give the session a wide berth.
The Bihar Police has launched a probe and dug up the grounds of the shelter home, but are yet to find the body.
A day after Chief Minister Nitish Kumar formed the government in Bihar in alliance with the National Democratic Alliance, hectic lobbying started for the post of assembly speaker, and other legislators to be included in the council of ministers.
'Bachcha' Rai is alleged to be the mastermind behind Bihar's topper scam.
The RJD leader's second daughter is not a politician, but has a clean image, which may endure her to Nitish Kumar.
On Tuesday, BJP President Amit Shah had mocked the alliance saying 'zero plus zero remains a zero'.
Ahead of Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi's floor test, Assembly Speaker Uday Narayan Chaudhary on Thursday granted the status of principal opposition party to the Janata Dal-United in place of the Bharatiya Janata Party, which slammed the move as "arbitrary".
While the BJP and the Congress have always supported the bill, opposition by other parties and demands from some for quota for backward classes within the women's quota have been key sticking points.
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.
The Election Commission is making sure that the winds of potential change cause no disruption in the counting process.
Talking to reporters in Patna, the former Union minister asserted that he would happily function as 'an ordinary party worker, worth five rupees', if the JD-U leadership was assumed by 'anybody from among the Luv Kush Samaj (Kurmis and Koeris) or the EBCs whose aspirations have been the party's driving force'.
Bharatiya Janata Party Member of Legislative Council Ashok Kumar Agrawal charged with the killing of an employee of a petrol pump owned by him at Mirchaibari in the town, has been arrested.
The Nitish Kumar cabinet on Saturday decided to call winter session of the legislative assembly from November 30.
In the video, Abdul Jalil Mastan, who is the state excise and prohibition minister, was heard telling the crowd that it was the PM who had said that if he failed to end people's woes within 50 days of demonetisation, he was prepared to face any punishment.
Kushwaha was referring to 'Luv Kush' rally in Patna, a veritable gathering of Kurmis and Koeris upset with supposed hegemony of numerically powerful Yadavs which Prasad, then helming Bihar, was seen as embodying.
Kushwaha retorted saying that he could not leave the party without his share in the "paternal property".
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