Suspended Janata Dal-United MP Upendra Kushwaha on Friday resigned from the party, slamming Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's alleged "autocratic" functioning in Bihar.
Several leaders aren't happy with the chief minister's decision to walk out of the Grand Alliance and join hands with the BJP.
Bihar's ruling Janata Dal-United has issued a show cause notice to Member of Legislative Assembly from Ziradei constituency, Shyam Bahadur Singh, who danced with half a dozen bar dancers at his official residence in Patna last week to entertain participants of a Mahadalit rally.
Janata Dal United leader Shivanand Tiwari on Saturday dismissed speculations about the party's differences with the Bharatiya Janata Party over the projection of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as the prime ministerial candidate. Talking about the meeting held in JD-U chief Sharad Pawar's residence, he said, "It was a routine meeting and had nothing to do with the 2014 Lok Sabha polls."
As the Janata Dal - United appears set to part ways with the Bharatiya Janata Party over Narendra Modi issue, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh has said his appointment as the Election Campaign Committee head does not mean he is the prime ministerial candidate.
Insiders say the BJP is now concerned the LJP putting up a good fight against the JD-U would mean benefitting the MGB in those seats. Moreover, Chirag and Tejaswi are known to be friends, and the former is battling for his political survival.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday admitted that sharp differences prevailed in the Janata Dal - United over the Women's Reservation Bill, but ruled out reports of a crisis brewing within the party."I admit there have been honest differences of opinion in the party over the support to the women's reservation bill in the Lok Sabha, but it should not be taken as a crisis or split facing the party," said Kumar.
Congress support to Janata Dal-United in Bihar Assembly on Wednesday lends a new dimension to the much-delayed meeting of the JPC on 2G scam to be held next week to discuss adoption of the controversial draft report that gave a clean chit to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P Chidambaram.
With his one hand in handcuffs, jailed JD-U leader Munna Shukla, who allegedly demanded Rs 2 crore from a private engineering college for Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's rally, on Friday distributed leaflets in court premises appealing to people to participate in the event.
The war of words between two erstwhile National Democratic Alliance allies on Sunday escalated with the Bharatiya Janata Party slamming Nitish Kumar for seeking Rashtriya Janata Dal support for his candidates in the Rajya Sabha bypoll for two seats, and Janata Dal-United accusing the saffron party of 'tacitly backing' two Independents.
While the Rashtriya Janata Dal and Janata Dal-United are busy fighting each other, the BJP is trying not to repeat the mistakes it made the last time out, says Satyavrat Mishra
Thousands of Janata Dal-United activists are expected to attend the March 17 rally of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in Delhi's Ram Lila Maidan, demanding special-category status for Bihar.
All eyes are on the JD-U's national executive meeting on June 29 in New Delhi, where a decision in this regard may be taken.
Janata Dal - United chief Sharad Yadav on Friday strongly denied that his party was gravitating towards the Congress and the United Progressive Alliance in the wake of its support to Pranab Mukherjee's Presidential candidature."That is absurd. It has no meaning," he said when asked about perceptions of his party cosying up to the Congress.
Indu Bhusan, the son of slain Ranvir Sena chief Brahmeshwar Singh, nicknamed Mukhiya, accused two legislators of Bihar's ruling Janata Dal-United as main conspirators behind the killing of his father on June 1.
Janata Dal (United), a key ally of the National Democratic Alliance, on Wednesday favoured discussion on CAG reports on coal block allocation and other issues instead of disruption of Parliament proceedings.
The Janata Dal-United on Sunday condemned the road rage incident in which party Member of Legislative Council Manorama Devi's son shot dead a youth and assured that appropriate action would be taken against him as per the law.
JD-U on Friday dismissed the Samajwadi Party-driven formation of a 'Third Front' for the Bihar polls and said that there was "only one front" in the state.
The Congress on Wednesday kept up attack on the government over removal of governors appointed during United Progressive Alliance rule, saying its priority should be to combat inflation and not "shadow boxing" while the Janata Dal-United demanded a debate in Parliament over the very need of having governors.
Indicating fissures in the National Democratic Alliance over the issue of Presidential election, the Janata Dal United on Tuesday snubbed the Bharatiya Janata Party for unilaterally announcing its stand on the issue. "Whatever Sushma Swaraj has said is the opinion of the BJP. This is not our party's view. The issue was not discussed in any NDA meeting. BJP has not discussed the issue with us," JD-U President Sharad Yadav told reporters.
As part of the campaign, JD-U workers were seen cutting their hair and nails and stuffing them in packets as samples for sending it to the prime minister for DNA test.
Sources close to Yadav said he had conveyed to Kumar his view that he was not keen on continuing after leading the party for 10 years and that a new person should be put in command.
'We made a mistake. We misunderstood. Now all is well.'
Bihar's Janata Dal (United) State President, Vasisht Narain Singh, on Monday demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Union Home Minister P Chidambaram on moral grounds over the forceful eviction of yoga guru Baba Ramdev and his followers from Delhi's Ramlila grounds on Saturday.
Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi on Monday alleged that Nitish Kumar's camp was trying to "frighten MLAs" by spreading rumours that he was "conspiring" with BJP to have President's Rule imposed in Bihar and accused his rival of parading "bogus" MLAs.
Filmmaker-turned-politician Prakash Jha is set to contest the Lok Sabha polls from the Bettiah parliamentary seat in Bihar as a Janata Dal-United nominee.
Bharatiya Janata Party is leading in six seats while secular alliance comprising Rashtriya Janata Dal, Janata Dal-United and Congress is ahead in 4 seats of the total 10 assembly seats where bypoll was held on August 21.
JD(U) spokesman Shambhu Shrivastwa said that both parties should respect each other's ideology.
The Janata Dal-United, Rashtriya Janata Dal and Congress legislators on Wednesday created ruckus in both Houses of Bihar legislature over recovery of Rs 1.14 crore, $600 and ornaments stolen from the house of Bharatiya Janata Party MP Giriraj Singh and demanded his arrest and termination of Parliament membership alleging it as "black money".
It was a day of mayhem for the main opposition party as S M Qamar Alam, a national general secretary of the RJD, walked to the chamber of Vidhan Parishad Acting chairman Awadhesh Narain Singh along with four others to tender their resignation. The other MLCs who resigned are Sanjay Prasad, Radha Charan Seth, Ranvijay Kumar Singh and Dlip Rai.
In a boost to Congress in Bihar, as many as 137 Janata Dal-United and Bharatiya Janata Party leaders including the former JD-U spokesperson Shambhunath Sinha Thursday joined the Congress.
The JD-U leader has been critical of his party's decision to support the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in Parliament, and it has now become a law following its passage in both Houses.
The support of a majority of his own party MPs to the legislation notwithstanding, JD (U) president Sharad Yadav on Tuesday accused the UPA of forcing through the Women's Reservation Bill in the Rajya Sabha and said constitutional amendments should only be passed after evolving a consensus.
The Congress on Sunday said other National Democratic Alliance partners need to take cue from Janata Dal-United which has insisted on a prime ministerial candidate having a "secular credibility beyond doubt"
The Janata Dal - United, which had backed United Progressive Alliance's Presidential candidate Pranab Mukherjee, on Monday supported the Bharatiya Janata Party's candidate Jaswant Singh for the vice presidential election.
Amid indications of growing bonhomie between Congress and the Janata Dal-United, which has broken its alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance, All India Congress Comittee general secretary Digvijaya Singh Tuesday said the decision on any tie-up between the two parties would be taken by the A K Antony committee.
In a surprise move, Bihar's ruling Janata Dal-United made it clear on Tuesday that it had no objection if its alliance partner Bharatiya Janata Party invites Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi for campaigning for the upcoming assembly elections in the state.
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Ananth Kumar on Friday said that his party will contest the 2014 Lok Sabha elections along with its alliance partner the Janata Dal-United in Bihar.
Congress leader Salman Khurshid, who is a part of India's diplomatic mission abroad, on Monday said it is 'distressing' that people back home are calculating political allegiances and asked if it is 'so difficult to be patriotic'.
