Ramesh said the current limit of 50 percent is not explicitly mandated by the Constitution, but has been decided through various Supreme Court decisions.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
A united opposition is set to corner the NDA government on issues ranging from the NEET paper leak case to railway safety.
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".
JD(U) spokesman Shambhu Shrivastwa said that both parties should respect each other's ideology.
Manjhi's political journey took a dramatic turn when, in 2014, he was unexpectedly anointed Chief Minister by Nitish Kumar, who had resigned after a disastrous Lok Sabha election.
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 RJD has fielded six women candidates, some of them are wives of bahubalis.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
BJP President Rajnath Singh on Sunday said he was "saddened" by the "unfortunate" walking out of the Janata Dal-United from the National Democratic Alliance and maintained that it would weaken the fight against the Congress.
The Janata Dal-United on Friday announced its support to Congress for the post of Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha even as the treasury side has kept suspense over the issue.
'The BJP will use Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha to check Nitish Kumar.' 'They will not allow him to function freely as before.'
In a major setback for former Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, the Patna High Court on Wednesday termed his re-election as JD-U legislative party leader unconstitutional.
A day after Janata Dal-United and Bharatiya Janata Party clashed in the Upper House of the Bihar assembly peace was restored in the House today following the Chairman giving a clean chit to former Chief Minister Nitish Kumar accused of instigating the scuffle and the leader of opposition expressing regret about the episode.
Janata Dal-United had not yet decided on Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's visit to Gujarat for campaigning for the Assembly polls, the party said.
Sharad Yadav is all set to be retained as the national president of the Janata Dal-United for the third term, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar told mediapersons in Patna on Monday.
Lok Janskati Party president Ramvilas Paswan on Friday said he fails to understand why Congress is "dithering" to join the Rashtriya Janata Dal-LJP alliance which is intact in spite of sentencing of Lalu Prasad.
The recent war of words between the Bharatiya Janata Party and its alliance partner Janata Dal-United seems to have come to an end after the former assured its allies it would decide on the prime ministerial candidate for the 2014 general elections after consulting them
The Janata Dal-United on Friday virtually put its foot down on the issue of the National Democratic Alliance taking any stand on Abdul Kalam, projected as Presidential candidate by the Samajwadi Party and the Trinamool Congress, following which the opposition alliance deferred its decision.
He was administered the oath of office by Governor Rajendra Arlekar at the Raj Bhavan in Patna.
The Janata Dal United said that it will wait for Congress-led United Progressive Aliance to announce its nominee for the vice Presidential election and will talk to its NDA allies before taking any decision on the issue.
Senior Janata Dal-United leader Shivanand Tiwari on Tuesday created flutters by praising Narendra Modi at the Janata Dal-United convention in Rajgir, triggering spontaneous protests from the party workers.
Captain Jainarayan Prasad Nishad, a member of the Lok Sabha from Bihar, has written to Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar against a sitting judge of the Supreme Court of India. In the letter to the Speaker, Captain Nishad has expressed his 'determination' to initiate impeachment proceeding against the judge.
Bihar's ruling JD-U has sent 1 lakh DNA samples of its partymen to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's office for testing to protest against his DNA jibe.
Although the Bihar CM is mum over his next move, speculations of a rift between Mahagathbandhan and JD-U leader Nitish Kumar joining the NDA, have been soaring high.
This Bhumihar leader has always been party supremo Kumar's strength, as this caste in Bihar is known to have wide political influence despite its small size.
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