Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's JD(U) expelled 16 leaders, including a sitting MLA and two former ministers, for anti-party activities ahead of the assembly elections. The expelled leaders were charged with violating the party's ideology and working against official NDA candidates.
Six police encounter in five days in Bihar, the first such action to deal with criminals in decades.
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Sushil Kumar Modi has accused Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar of ordering tapping of phones of his party's leaders and carrying out sting operations to settle political scores.
A total of 126 votes, including four of Congress and one of CPI, were cast in favour of the confidence motion while 24, including 22 of Lalu Prasad led RJD, voted against the motion as BJP members staged a walkout before the vote.
Expressing displeasure over the attack on his cabinet colleague Nitin Nabin by miscreants in neighbouring Jharkhand amid the protests, Kumar on Monday asserted that 'the responsibility of maintaining peace and communal harmony rests with the state government'.
The chief minister said that that his government had worked for an environment of peace, love and brotherhood and said that society will move forward only when everybody lived in peace and harmony.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal-United on Monday announced its low-profile top office-bearer Anil Hegde as its candidate for the by-election to a Rajya Sabha seat which has been necessitated by the death of multiple-term MP, King Mahendra.
Bitter rivals in Bihar politics Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad will be neighbours now after the Janata Dal-United top leader abdicated power as chief minister in the face of severe drubbing in the recent Lok Sabha election.
The Bihar CM will have make good on his poll promises of a clean administration, providing piped water, toilets, pucca roads and unemployment allowance
The JD-U has insisted that Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is the leader of the alliance and it has been the "senior partner" in the state, indicating that it should get a major share.
Dismissing charges of being an opportunist and of betraying the Bharatiya Janata Party, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Friday said that the Janata Dal-United quit the national Democratic Alliance as the saffron party did not keep its word about putting on hold contentious issues and not projecting leaders who cannot expand the coalition.
'The possibility of Nitish Babu continuing at least for some time is very much there, but don't rule out the artistic possibility of a leadership change executed very elegantly.'
'Muslims in Bihar under Nitishji's rule are safest than anywhere else.'
A careful calculation of the BJP's support base seems to have been at work in the cabinet expansion that took place a day after the party's national president chaired a meeting of the "core group" here.
Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi appears to be on the way out in the wake of his defiance as the Janata Dal-United is all set to replace him with his mentor Nitish Kumar at a meeting of the legislature party on Saturday.
Ashok Gehlot convinced the RJD leadership that the Congress had no issue about declaring Tejashwi as the Mahagathbandan's chief minister face.
Those who know the depths of the mindless lethargy that the Bihar bureaucracy had sunk into until two years ago, understand the importance of the unquantifiable but invaluable revival.
Kishor claimed that Nitish may go for a tie-up with the BJP again if situation demands so.
The Rajya Sabha elections saw several candidates elected unopposed, including Sharad Pawar and Ramdas Athawale, while Bihar, Odisha, and Haryana prepare for contested elections.
'Our party has formed governments independently in all neighbouring states except West Bengal; now it's Bihar's turn.'
Now it's all jibes about his chameleon-like politics and fading grip on the administration. But there was a time Nitish had the BJP trembling in the state, points out Aditi Phadnis.
'JD-U wants to emerge as the single largest party in Bihar after the next assembly polls by contesting more seats than the BJP.'
The Bihar Assembly session was adjourned after a heated exchange between Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and leader of the opposition Tejashwi Yadav regarding the special intensive revision of electoral rolls. The situation escalated quickly, leading to unparliamentary language and a shouting match between members of the ruling and opposition parties.
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.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday asserted that Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary, a former state Bharatiya Janata Party president, would be made 'big man' by Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the assembly polls.
The opposition's presidential poll candidate Yashwant Sinha on Friday revealed that Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar refused to take his calls when he tried to seek the latter's support for his candidature.
Around 275,000 migrant labourers and their family members have returned to the state. According to the state government, this number could exceed 1 million by the end of this month. As the NDA government in Bihar is scheduled to face polls at the end of this year, providing livelihoods to these people is on the top Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's agenda.
The Bihar CM further recounted the work done by his government to boost social welfare in the state and the efforts to strengthen the law and order in the state.
In Bihar, women outvoted men and, perhaps, became one of the decisive factors behind the NDA's landslide victory in the assembly polls in the state on Friday.
Another populist decision of the government was the announcement of an unemployment allowance for the youth: Rs 1,000 per month for two years for graduates and those who have completed class 12 but remain unemployed.
On November 1, most of the star campaigners cancelled their campaign programmes as their helicopters remained grounded at Patna airport due to poor visibility and strong winds.
Without naming Press Council of India Chairman Markandey Katju who had criticised Bihar Chief Minister on Friday, Nitish Kumar on Saturday said some people were moving in the state like the 'Ramayana's character 'Kalnemi' to turn a vibrant atmosphere of the state into gloom.
'The design of the logo of this competition is a symbol of the rich cultural heritage and all-round progress of glorious Bihar.'
Nitish Kumar has to eschew disastrous experiments with prohibition and reservations in the private sector. Unless he is dissuaded from pursuing these flawed measures, he will pave the way for Bihar to again become a part of the BIMARU group of sick states, says Amulya Ganguli.
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.
Police swung into action soon after learning about the posters put up at 'Chalukya Circle', just a stone's throw from the venue of the meeting which is being attended by Nitish Kumar.
Kumar is reported to have made the Rajya Sabha remark during an informal chat with some journalists who had asked him about his recent tour of areas falling under the now abolished Barh Lok Sabha constituency which he had represented many times.
'Within the BJP, Samrat Chowdhury confronts a party full of senior leaders with their own factional networks, caste calculations and career ambitions; many of whom may regard his elevation as a product of central convenience rather than organic merit.'
Most JD-U ministers favour a return to the BJP-led NDA ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
