The RJD leader's second daughter is not a politician, but has a clean image, which may endure her to Nitish Kumar.
Conceding that the RJS is the "big brother" in Bihar, the Congress said that Rahul was "the face of anti-NDA forces" in the country.
'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.
A day after the National Democratic Alliance finalised the seat-sharing arrangement for the Bihar assembly elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party has emerged as the 'big-brother' and the largest party in the state to contest the number of seats.
Recalling his association with Jaitley, the CM said that "I had very close association with Arun Jailey ji since 1998 when I got the opportunity to work in Atal Bihari Vajpayee government... I am deeply hurt with passing away of Arun Jaitley ji."
Madhaw Anand, the party's principal national general secretary and chief spokesperson, resigned from the posts as well as the primary membership stating that the party ran the risk of being "finished" on account of the "inconsequential" move.
HAM leader Jitan Ram Manjhi on Monday said statements of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat about a review of quotas could be one of the possible reasons for the NDA's debacle in the polls.
He accused the BJP leadership of having 'vested interests' while stubbornly refusing to learn any lesson from the thumping loss in the Bihar assembly elections.
After a dream debut seven years ago when he was sworn in as deputy chief minister after being elected MLA for the first time was followed by a slump in his political fortunes, Tejashwi Yadav has finally come back to center-stage as the kingmaker and deputy to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
There is a view that heavyweight portfolios like home, finance, defence and external affairs besides education and culture, two ministries with strong ideological hues, will be kept by the BJP, while its allies can get anywhere between five to eight cabinet berths.
SP on Thursday announced its decision to contest the Bihar assembly polls with SJDD, NCP and NPP, saying the combine will present a third alternative to the voters.
Kumar said he had no option but to walk out of the grand alliance as continuing in it would have meant compromising with corruption.
Prashant Kishor expressed the view that the recent 'chintan shivir' could not achieve "anything meaningful".
Curtains came down on Tuesday evening on campaigning for 57 seats going to poll in the fifth and last phase of bitterly-fought Bihar assembly elections on November five, with acrimonious exchanges provoking showcause notices from the Election Commission to top leaders of rival alliances.
'The general idea is to unite all the anti-Modi parties into an alliance, to dent the PM's image as a vote-winner, and then stymie him in Parliament -- particularly in the Rajya Sabha -- in order to ruin his credentials as a reformer,' says T V R Shenoy.
Kumar, who chose not to react when the 31-year-old Rashtriya Janata Dal leader made a series of personal attacks and allegations in his nearly an hour-long speech, erupted in anger when the latter sought to interject during a statement made by Janata Dal-United leader and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary.
Varma sought 'ideological clarity' from Nitish over extending alliance with the BJP beyond Bihar despite having expressed apprehensions 'in private' about the BJP-RSS leading the nation into a 'dangerous space'.
The BJP and JD-U will form the new government after the latter party's chief resigned saying in the circumstances it became difficult to run the grand alliance government.
BJP president Amit Shah on Thursday said that fire-crackers will burst in Pakistan if the NDA did not form the next government in Bihar.
The Election Commission has given a go-ahead to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's latest episode of Mann ki baat to be aired on Sunday with a rider that it will not carry anything which could be construed as influencing the voters of Bihar.
Altogether 160 MLAs voted in favour of the confidence motion while no vote was cast against the same.
He said Nitish betrayed people's mandate by breaking Grand Alliance.
Yadav said all parties have joined hands against the BJP in the Bihar assembly, and added "now this is going to be replicated across the whole country".
The 31-year-old is seeking re-election from Raghopur in Vaishali district which he had wrested back for his party from the Bharatiya Janata Party's Satish Kumar in 2015. The BJP leader had defeated Yadav's mother Rabri Devi, a former chief minister, in 2010.
The BJP's defeat in Bihar dents its hopes of improving its RS tally but the grand alliance victory could also present the first signs of tension when five JD-U members retire next year.
He sought interim stay of the decision of Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu.
Opposition leaders asked all secular forces to field a joint candidate for presidential elections and have common minimum programme to challenge the Bharatiya Janata Party, reports Archis Mohan.
Kumar, who looks on course to becoming the longest serving chief minister of the state during his new term, was expected to take oath on or after Monday next week before which he will send his resignation to the governor since his current tenure expires at the end of November.
The votes for the state assembly polls will be counted on November 10. Prasad is in judicial custody in Jharkhand capital Ranchi after his conviction in fodder scam cases. He was recently granted bail by the Jharkhand High Court in the case related to Chaibasa treasury but could not come out of jail as his bail plea in another case of fraudulent withdrawals from Dumka treasury is being heard.
Not quitting, says Tejashwi Yadav. Accuses Prime Minister Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah of 'conspiracy'.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal-United on Wednesday asserted that it was "not scared of ED and CBI" following its break-up with the Bharatiya Janata Party, which rules the Centre and is often accused by the opposition of misusing investigating agencies.
Talking to reporters for the first time after the NDA's victory, Kumar, who is set for yet another term in office, said the date for his swearing-in ceremony will be discussed at an 'informal' meeting of all the four NDA constituents on Friday.
The crowds were stunned into silence for a few seconds, after which they erupted in applause for the 69-year-old leader who has ruled the state for nearly 15 years.
The rising price of pulses has become a hot issue during the Bihar assembly polls.
Anwar, an AICC general secretary, came out with a flurry of tweets calling for 'urgent and deep introspection' over the debacle of the party, the second largest constituent of the opposition coalition, which contested as many as 70 seats but returned with a tally of just 19.
Leaders of 38 parties have confirmed their participation in a meeting of the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) to be held in the national capital on Tuesday, Bharatiya Janata Party president J P Nadda said.
Signalling both change and continuity, India's new government, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a third consecutive term, got into work gear on Tuesday with cabinet ministers and ministers of state filing into their respective offices to assume charge.
Anil Sharma had already 'offered' a finger twice to a local deity to 'express happiness' at Nitish's swearing in.
The longest-serving chief minister of any Hindi- speaking state, Nitish Kumar seems to have acquired an aura of indispensability when it comes to the highest seat of power in Bihar.
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