Nitish Kumar, once seen as a potential rival to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, broke ranks with the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance coalition on Tuesday to stake claim as head of the rival 'Mahagathbandhan' (Grand Alliance) to be the chief minister of Bihar for the eighth time.
According to the police headquarters in Patna, "more than a dozen police personnel and power department employees" sustained injuries in the incident that took place barely "100 meters away from Barsoi police station".
'The 2020 assembly election was a Tejaswi Yadav election; whereas this is a Lalu Yadav election. It is his plan.'
'Now they're talking about changing the Constitution; they feel they have no reason now to hide their intentions.'
Owaisi's five seats in Bihar's Muslim-majority Seemanchal region ought to ring alarm bells, observes Virendra Kapoor.
There will be 2,364 counting halls as compared to 1,002 halls in 2016 in 822 assemble constituencies, a more than 200 percent increase, in view of the COVID guidelines, according to the Election Commission which had drawn flak from the courts over the conduct of polls during the pandemic.
Bharatiya Janata Party leaders have been claiming that "more than 100 people" have died. Most media reports have put the death toll to be more than 50.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Saturday hinted that a meeting of opposition leaders may take place in Patna after the crucial Karnataka assembly polls were over as many would be busy electioneering there.
The Centre on Monday said it banned Communist Party of India-Maoist as a terror organisation to avoid any ambiguity after the merger of Communist Party of India-(Marxist Leninist) Liberation and Maoist Communist Centre in 2004.
Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation candidate Dr Jayanta Rongpi became the target of poll-related violence in Assam, when unidentified gunmen opened fire at his public rally at Disobai under Bokoliaghat police station, on Monday afternoon. A woman, who had come to attend the rally, was injured in the attack.According to the police, gunmen opened fire at Rongpi while he was preparing to deliver his speech in the meeting. The CPI-ML leader escaped unhurt.
Former Bihar MP Anand Mohan, who is serving a life sentence in the killing of Indian Administrative Service officer G Krishnaiah, is to be set free along with 26 others who have been lodged in different prisons of the state for more than 14 years.
Defending the liquor ban in Bihar, he said that the state's prohibition policy has benefitted several people and a large number of people have given up drinking alcohol due to his measures.
Several trains were cancelled, highways and key roads blocked and many thousands stranded for hours on Monday as a nationwide 10-hour shutdown against the Centre's three agri laws disrupted lives across parts of India, particularly in the north.
The announcement comes a day after the opposition's Mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) allotted just one seat to the Left parties in Bihar.
Politicians, actors and eminent jurists have written a petition to the President to waive off the 1993 Mumbai blasts convict's execution, saying it 'would degrade us all'.
'Maybe the BJP believes, in the post-poll scenario, it will have the might to foist, anybody endorsed by the RSS, upon Bihar,' observes Mohammad Sajjad.
'The only thing that makes Nitish Kumar acceptable to Biharis, to the Mahagatbandhan allies, is the BJP.'
'The Bihar verdict has shown that the people of Bihar don't desire to go back to the mandir-masjid rhetoric.' 'Jobs, wages and development are the aspiration of the people of Bihar and we hope the next government will keep that in mind.'
'For the last 10 years the Congress made the RSS an idea of intolerance, anti-minority, especially anti-Muslim, and an idea of fascism.' 'That has been demolished now by Pranab Mukherjee.'
Journalists from across the country gathered and demanded justice amid call for standing up to "forces" trying to the "muzzle" the voices of dissent.
