Janata Dal-United President Sharad Yadav was on Thursday elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha from Bihar, but in two other seats, the party's official candidates were facing stiff challenge from Independents backed by rebels and the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) MPs, including Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress Parliamentary Party chief Sonia Gandhi and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, staged a protest in Parliament premises on Wednesday over the alleged discrimination against opposition-ruled states in the Union Budget.
.jpg)
Bharatiya Janata Party leaders C P Thakur and R K Sinha filed their nominations on Monday for the coming Rajya Sabha election from Bihar.
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.
'Despite being Bihar chief minister twice and an MLA for over three decades, he and my mother used to stay in a jhopri in our village.'
While all political parties have been talking about following in the footsteps of the debutant Aam Admi Party by fielding fresh faces in the coming Lok Sabha polls, Bihar Chief Minister and Janata Dal-U leader Nitish Kumar has set the ball rolling by deciding not to renominate his party's three sitting MPs in the coming biennial elections to the Rajya Sabha scheduled for February 7. Anita Katyal reports.
Both the BJP and the Congress have banked on new and young faces, some of whom have been nominated by the parties for the first time.
The JD-U leader rubbished speculations that he was maintaining an eloquent silence on the issue because of anxieties about tarnishing his own image for probity by aligning with "tainted" politicians and could even be thinking of breaking away with the "Mahagathbandhan", which besides RJD, also includes Congress and the Left.
It's set to be another stormy day in Parliament with opposition parties determined to corner the government on the issue of demonetising Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes, which has caused massive outrage across the nation.
The coming weeks are sure to have a lot of drama unfolding in Maharashtra, predicts N Sathiya Moorthy.
Murmu's vote share is now likely to go past 61 per cent, while it was earlier estimated to be around 50 per cent at the time of her nomination.
Moderate to high turnout was recorded in 13 assembly constituencies across seven states where bypolls were held on Wednesday amid sporadic incidents of violence in Uttarakhand, Bihar and West Bengal.
Manjhi had demanded that the NDA field at least one member from his party for the six Rajya Sabha polls in the state scheduled next month
The BJP's Bihar unit responded to the tweet saying, "The first picture is your future and the second is of India. Understood?"
'Dynastic politics has become a tool of convenience for political parties. The BJP does not hesitate to accept it when it comes to its own alliance or party candidates. The same goes for the others.'
RCP Singh alleged that Kumar "had made up his mind to betray the mandate of 2020 when people had voted the NDA back to power."
The month-long winter session of Parliament, which begins on Wednesday, is expected to be a stormy one with opposition parties determined to corner the government on several issues, including the issue of demonetising Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes, which has caused massive outrage across the nation.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday declined to speak on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's disqualification from the Lok Sabha, saying he avoided doing so in matters involving court order.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was an experienced leader and it would be great if a proposal came to make him the convenor of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), his deputy Tejashwi Yadav said on Wednesday.
Rashtriya Janata Dal president Lalu Prasad's 'samdhi' Chandrika Roy has been nominated by the Janata Dal- United from his traditional Parsa assembly seat, but name of the former Director General of Police Gupteshwar Pandey is missing from the list of 115 candidates released by the party on Wednesday.
Holidays on Ram Navami and Janmashtami, associated with the most popular of Hindu deities Lord Rama and Lord Krishna respectively, have been done away with and on the other hand, the number of days requiring schools to remain shut for Muslim festivals has been increased, Modi alleged.
The controversial Land Ordinance was tabled in the Lok Sabha on Monday by Union Minister of State for Skill Development Rajiv Pratap Rudy.
'Sharad Yadav was deeply hurt by Nitish Kumar's decision, taken without consulting the senior party leaders at a time when opposition unity was to be strengthened against the BJP. He felt ignored and is likely to take a final stand soon.'
The no-frills ceremony comes a day after Kumar snapped ties with the BJP-led NDA and joined hands with the RJD to form a 'mahagathbandhan' government.
Harivansh, a Janata Dal-United MP, is likely to get the support of 126 members in the Upper House, which has an effective strength of 244 MPs, sources in the Bharatiya Janata Party said.
'Union Budgets are often used as political instruments and that was the intention of this government too.' 'But while the exercise has settled two fronts, it has left open several others and this has the potential to aggravate with time,' predicts Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
The mortal remains of the former Union minister were consigned to flames by his son Shantanu Bundela and daughter Subhasini in his ancestral village Ankhmau at around 5 pm.
Rahul Gandhi had earlier indicated that he might be present at the Patna rally.
The name of the next vice president of India will be known on Saturday evening after members of Parliament cast their ballot during the day in Parliament House.
Quality of food served in Parliament canteen on Wednesday came under attack in Rajya Sabha as a member drew attention of the government towards MPs falling sick after consuming it.
'They were as late as June 2023 and they did not follow it up with concrete measures immediately in terms of a secretariat or common minimum programme, working group or seat sharing etc.' 'They continued to have periodic meetings after a gap of weeks where they had tasty dinner and coffee, but beside that they did nothing else.'
A Patna court has directed the police to lodge an FIR against RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, his MP sister Misa Bharti and some other political figures on the complaint of a person who has alleged he was duped of Rs 5 crore with the promise of a Lok Sabha ticket in the 2019 general elections.
A delegation of 21 Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc MPs will pay a two-day visit to Manipur beginning Saturday to assess the ground situation first-hand and then make recommendations to the government and Parliament for a solution to the problems in the violence-hit state.
Some constituents of the alliance have raised concern that the panels, particularly the 14-member coordination committee, are at risk of becoming ineffective, as their decisions have so far not been acted upon.
'We had the option of either crossing over to the opposition or fighting on our own with a focus on seats being contested by the JD-U as its reluctance was the main reason the LJP was offered only so few seats'
Kumar insisted that allies should have been given proportional representation in the cabinet.
Political strategist-turned-activist Prashant Kishor on Thursday took a fresh jibe at Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, his former mentor, reiterating that the latter may ditch the 'Mahagathbandhan' and return to the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance.
The CBI has said the mall belongs to Yadav who has made investment in the project through a company.
The bypolls are termed as a 'rehearsal' for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls by CM Yogi Adityanath.
"The current situation in Bihar is very disappointing for me. The mandate by the people of Bihar was not for this. I don't agree with the decision taken in Bihar. It's unfortunate," Yadav said.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances