The Mahagathbandhan, or grand alliance, on Saturday reached a consensus on seat distribution with the JD-U and the RJD to contest 101 seats each while Congress will put up candidates in 41 seats for the October-November Bihar assembly poll.
The formula of Lok Sabha polls this year wherein JD-U and BJP had both fought 17 seats each, leaving six for Ram Vilas Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party, which joined the National Democratic Alliance in 2014, a year after Kumar's exit, could not serve as the basis for the assembly polls, said the poll strategist.
Amid deepening fissures in Kumar's ties with the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Congress, BJP leaders have indicated that they are open to tying up with him again.
A meeting of the Janata Dal-United Legislature Party has been called on February seven amid reports that Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi was under pressure to quit and make way for his predecessor Nitish Kumar.
Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav was on Monday released from Birsa Munda Central Jail in Ranchi, two-and-a-half months after he was convicted in a fodder scam case.
Bihar's Rural Development Minister Shravan Kumar has stated that the decision on Nishant Kumar's entry into politics rests solely with his father, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. Kumar also clarified that Nitish Kumar's absence from Rekha Gupta's swearing-in as Delhi chief minister was due to a pre-scheduled program in Nalanda.
Accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party of forcing it to walk out of the alliance by not being forthcoming on Narendra Modi's future role, senior Janata Dal-United leader Shivanand Tiwari on Saturday said the announcement of a split in the coalition was a "mere formality".
The LJP rebels are likely to join the JD-U formally on July 7.
Patna residents discuss what may happen when the EVMs are unlocked on Sunday morningwith Prasanna D Zore/Rediff.com
'Nitish Kumar may take a decision to dump the BJP alliance by November.'
"Terms like 'unity in diversity' are used for our country. The country belongs to all. No remarks should me made that harm the country," Singh, a confidant of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, told reporters when asked for his reaction to the BJP leader's comments.
The Janata Dal-United, which is opposed to Narendra Modi's projection as BJP's prime ministerial candidate, on Monday said it will discuss all aspects of his anointment as the campaign committee chief and will spell out its stand soon.
Chaudhary alleged that the BJP "hates Bihar" after having lost power in the state, which is "back in the centre-stage of national politics" since the opposition meeting hosted in Patna by Nitish Kumar.
Kumar said expansion of the Union council of ministers was a prerogative of the prime minister and that he "did not have much information" about what was being offered to his party.
Cracking the whip, Janta Dal-United on Thursday expelled outgoing Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament and senior leader Shivanand Tiwari and four Lok Sabha MPs for anti-party activities.
The Janata Dal-United will elect a new leader on Sunday, party chief Sharad Yadav said, a day after Nitish Kumar stepped down as the Bihar chief minister.
N K Singh, a Janata Dal-United member of Parliament, quit the party on Friday amidst indications that he would join the Bharatiya Janata Party.
'If Nitish goes alone, he will be washed away.' 'If he hand holds the BJP, it will again crush him because it will be known that he has sided with the BJP because he doesn't have any other option.' 'Lalu knows Nitish coming back will be a political gain for Lalu.'
The juggernaut of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance, which triumphed in three of the four east and north-eastern states that went for assembly bypolls on Saturday, was halted yet again in West Bengal where Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress registered a six-on-six clean sweep.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Saturday appeared all set to make his second political volte face in less than three years, with a highly-placed source close to Kumar saying that the Janata Dal-United president is likely to tender his resignation by Sunday morning.
Sabir Ali's stint in the Bharatiya Janata Party lasted for a couple of hours. Accused of being a Yasin Bhatkal sympathiser, till only a few days back he belonged to a party that has been accused of going soft on terrorists. Vicky Nanjappa analyses if there's any truth to these allegations
Nitish Kumar on Monday escalated the stand-off in the ruling JD-U in Bihar.
Bihar's first Muslim woman minister Perween Amanullah on Tuesday resigned from the chief minister Nitish Kumar cabinet and the party Janata Dal-United, citing dissatisfaction from the present system. She was working as the state's social welfare minister
Blowing the bugle for the 2014 Parliamentary elections, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Saturday hit out at the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government for dilly dallying on granting special category status to the state.
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.
After threatening to consume poison if the Women's Reservation Bill is passed by the Parliament in its current form, Janata Dal - United chief Sharad Yadav on Saturday demanded separate quota for those belonging to the backward castes. "I am not asking for a reservation of 33 per cent (for women), it could be even 50 per cent. But ground realities should not be overlooked. Weaker sections among women face more difficulty," he said.
As Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar frowned at the Centre, the Bharatiya Janata Party ion Monday took a dig at him, saying he was led up the "garden path" by the Congress on the issue of special status and hinted that this had led to its split with the BJP.
The BJP has offered support to Jitan Ram Manjhi if he assures the support of 30 JD-U MLAs in return.
Facing stiff challenge to see Janata Dal-United candidates through in the coming bypoll for two Rajya Sabha seats in Bihar, Nitish Kumar on Saturday appealed to arch rival Lalu Prasad, Congress and Communist Party of India to make common cause to "foil the game plan of BJP to destabilise the government".
National Democratic Alliance constitutent Janata Dal (United) on Friday advocated a cautious approach for the Opposition alliance on Presidential election downplaying former President APJ Abdul Kalam's visit to Patna, saying no politics should be read into it.
JD-U president said earlier the saffron party was acting from behind the curtain but now the curtain has been lifted.
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.
JD-U leader Sharad Yadav speaks about the recent crisis in Bihar
Sanjay Jha's importance lies in his connections to senior BJP and RSS leaders to maintain a smooth relationship within the NDA government in Bihar and at the Centre and to contest the 2025 Bihar assembly elections together under Nitish Kumar's leadership.
The Yatra comes a day after the Congress was left high and dry with former ally Nitish Kumar, the Bihar chief minister, making a return to the BJP-led NDA.
Nearlly six people were injured in Patna when workers of the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Janata Dal United clashed with each other. JD-U had on Sunday ended its 17-year-old alliance with the BJP, its coalition partner in the ruling state government, after controversial Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi was elevated within the saffron party.
In a setback to Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad, his close confidant and national general secretary Shyam Razak today resigned from the Bihar Assembly.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the BJP-led NDA parliamentary party meeting, focusing on current issues, the upcoming vice president's election, and likely addressing opposition concerns.
The two were being taken to Gaya central jail for interrogation, Magadh Zone Deputy Inspector General Saurabh Kumar said.
Lalu's son and heir apparent Tejashwi Yadav, however, sought to downplay the remarks made by his father, in an interview to a local news channel, claiming that the RJD supremo had merely tried to satisfy the curiosity of the prying media.
