The move of the Tamil Nadu government to release seven convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case generated heat in Lok Sabha on Thursday with Congress and AIADMK members clashing on the issue.
Did Nitish Kumar want to return to the Mahagathbandhan 6 months after aligning with the BJP?
Both Narendra Modi and Amit Shah have refused to meet Union Minister Upendra Kushwaha.
The Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies on Tuesday welcomed the Union Budget and said it focussed on youth, farmers, women, and has 'substantial allocations' for Maharashtra, but the opposition slammed the annual financial statement, claiming it neglected the western state and only seeks to please the saffron outfit's partners in Bihar and Andhra Pradesh.
Ever since Nitish embarked on the slippery path of trying to unite the Opposition against the BJP, he has repeatedly rebutted suggestions that the exercise was aimed at bringing himself centre stage. The problem is: It is not enough if he says so. Others have to say so as well, especially Congress, observes Aditi Phadnis.
Pushing efforts to firm up a Third Front, top leaders of the Janata Dal-United, Left and the Janta Dal-Secular met in New Delhi on Monday and decided to convene a meeting of 11 parties after the end of the current Parliament session to give concrete shape to a non-Congress and non-BJP alternative.
Both factions moved swiftly to take control of the party a day after Paras, the youngest brother of Paswan's father and party founder Ram Vilas Paswan, was recognised by the Lok Sabha secretariat as the leader of the Lok Janshakti Party in the House.
The ruling BJP in UP, however, lost Khatauli to Samajwadi Party ally Rashtriya Lok Dal.
A crucial meeting of Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, Janata Dal-United chief Sharad Yadav and Rashtriya Janata Dal supremo Laloo Prasad Yadav along with Rashtriya Lok Dal leader Ajit Singh took place at 8.30 am on Thursday at the JD-U chief's residence at 7, Tughlaq Road in New Delhi.
Efforts to forge unity in the opposition ranks gained momentum on Monday with the Congress asserting that a 'vast majority' of non-Bharatiya Janata Party outfits will meet soon, after Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar met its president Mallikarjun Kharge and senior leader Rahul Gandhi.
Medhavi Kirti, the granddaughter of late veteran Congress leader Babu Jagjiwan Ram, has been campaigning against her aunt Meira Kumar, Lok Sabha Speaker and Congress candidate from Sasaram Lok Sabha seat in Bihar.
Family feuds, in what are essentially family-run outfits, have cast a shadow over the reunification efforts of Janata Party.
Joining hands with his arch rival, Lalu Prasad Yadav, paid off for the Bihar chief minister
In Bihar, Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad have come a long way from being bitter rivals for over two decades to friends with benefits. Their grand alliance along with the Congress, has won them six of the 10 assembly seats in the by-elections on Monday.
Sources said the opposition parties would look to avoid the prickly leadership question as of now and emphasise on building a common ground.
Shukla claimed that the current Nitish Kumar-led dispensation would be ousted after the elections and people have started protesting against the ruling alliance leaders in public meetings.
Ahead of the day-long Opposition meeting on Friday, Samvad Bhavan, Rajkiye Atithisala and Sadaquat Ashram have got a facelift.
Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com does a deep dive into four elections when Narendra Modi resorted to anti-Muslim fervour and points out that Hindu-Muslim politics does not necessarily mean victory for the BJP.
Be it the ruling Janata Dal-United or Bharatiya Janata Party, or the opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal, Lok Janshakti Party and Congress, election time in Bihar proves that blood is thicker than water when it comes to issuing tickets to the kin of politicians.
After a meeting at BJP leader LK Advani's residence, from which the BJP's oldest ideological ally the Shiv Sena kept away, NDA convenor Sharad Yadav merely said more discussions were needed to arrive at a right decision
Chowdhury said that the visiting MPs will present their observations on Manipur in Parliament.
The upcoming Opposition meet in Patna scheduled for next week will not discuss a possible prime ministerial candidate and will focus on deciding the common agenda for the parties to work on in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections.
The ruling coalition won 125 seats in the 243-member state assembly against 110 clinched by the opposition Grand Alliance to pave the way for a fourth successive term for Kumar in office.
Aaditya Thackeray on Wednesday sought to distance himself from the strident "anti-migrant" stance that the Shiv Sena, founded by his late grandfather Bal Thackeray, has often been accused of.
'The BJP should be really wary of Nitish Kumar, or he will also take the BJP down with him.'
Paswan, who has chosen to plough a lonely furrow in the ongoing assembly elections, reiterated that the LJP was and will remain loyal towards the BJP, which was staring at the spectre of yet another "paltimaar" (volte face) by the JD-U president.
Former Union minister and senior Janata Dal-United leader George Fernandes filed his nomination papers in Patna on Thursday as a party candidate for Rajya Sabha by election from Bihar.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday insisted that nothing much should be read into his recent meeting with an MP of the Lok Janshakti Party, which is headed by his bete noire Chirag Paswan, since members of Parliament and the state legislature call on him regularly over matters relating to their constituencies.
Members of allies, the Bharatiya Janata Party and Lok Janshakti Party, were left out from the cabinet expansion.
The CPI says its candidate Kanhaiya Kumar is getting 'excellent' support from all segments of society in Begusarai.
Despite its harmful effects, leaders and party workers consume khaini to keep them going during the election campaign.
The 17-year-old alliance between the Janata Dal-United and the Bharatiya Janata Party will come to an end on Sunday. An announcement to this effect will be made following a crucial meeting of the JD-U at 12.30 pm.
A win for SP could provide some consolation for Akhilesh Yadav after the defeat in the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections early this year and the loss of Azamgarh and Rampur Lok Sabha seats to the BJP in June bypolls.
Chirag Paswan cryptically added that he was not ruling out the possibility of siding with the RJD.
With opinion polls on televisions showing him a bad loser in the coming Lok Sabha elections in Bihar, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Friday discarded such surveys as a "PR campaign to boost TRP" by "rumour master" and said poll results would send them into "deep shock".
Welcoming Raghuram Rajan panel report which has put Bihar among the least developed states, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Thursday described it as a 'victory' for the state but was non-committal on alliance with the Congress for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections.
Narendra Modi was both conciliatory and mocking towards the Opposition, particularly Congress, during his hour long reply to the debate on the motion of thanks to the President's address in the Upper House.
Known for weighing his options carefully before making any move, Kumar, upon a closer look, comes across as a risk taker who has not shied away from going against the tide.
Janata Dal-United president Sharad Yadav on Wednesday visited the native village of jailed criminal-turned-politician Anand Mohan Singh, a former MP serving life sentence in a murder case, to seek blessings of his mother for the Lok Sabha polls.
Known for weighing his options carefully before making any move, Kumar, upon a closer look, comes across as a risk taker who has not shied away from going against the tide.
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