Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader and former finance minister Yashwant Sinha has asked newly-appointed party president Rajnath Singh to name Gujarat Chief Minister Narendre Modi as the party's official prime ministerial candidate for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
Key United Progressive Alliance ally Mamata Banerjee, who kept up the suspense till the last moment before backing Pranab Mukherjee in the Presidential elections, on Wednesday attended Mukherjee's oath taking ceremony while no Chief Minister from Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled states were present.
"Between 1990 and 2005, only 95,000 people were given jobs. In our administration, over 6 lakh jobs were given and besides this many others were enrolled in other services," Nitish Kumar said.
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Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Rabri Devi said Chief Minister Nitish Kumar does not have the strength to stop Narendra Modi from coming to Bihar, the way her husband Lalu Prasad Yadav had stopped L K Advani during his rath yatra in 1990.
The assembly election results on May 19 altered India's political landscape and with it dented Janata Dal-United leader Nitish Kumar's prime ministerial ambitions.
Anju's husband Krishna Kumar, a bank officer, who was killed in the Mumbai train blasts said that she has decided to immolate herself before Nitish Kumar to protest against forcible occupation of her flat by a leader of ruling party JD(U).
The rift between the Bharatiya Janata Party and ally Janata Dal-United widened on Sunday with Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi pulling out of functions to be addressed by Nitish Kumar to protest the return of flood relief money to Gujarat, after which the chief minister cancelled his programme.
The Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) would soon form government at the Centre, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah claimed on Wednesday as he predicted that the ruling National Democratic Alliance will not complete its five-year term.
KC Tyagi also spoke on special status for Bihar, which has been a demand of the party and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
After taking pot shots at each other under the guise of poetry, the war of words between Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar shows no sings of abating."Lalu Prasad is not a trusted politician as he had failed to deliver during his 15 year regime in Bihar. What he is promising today is a mere political gimmick," Nitish Kumar said while reacting to Lalu's campaign promise that he would give free motorcycles and petrol to students.
Addressing a press conference barely a few hours before the campaign for the final phase of the elections came to a close, Paswan reiterated that the LJP will do well despite having gone solo in the elections and asserted, "We will help the BJP form the next government."
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Friday asserted that National Register for Citizens will not be implemented in the state, putting at rest speculations raised by his Janata Dal-United's support to the Citizenship Amendment Act.
Taking on the RJD supremo for questioning lack of development in Bihar, Kumar said the NDA government built the roads on which Prasad was travelling to take out his 'Parivartan yatra'.
Tej Pratap Yadav, an RJD leader and former Bihar minister, has been criticized for ordering his security guard to dance during Holi celebrations. The constable was sent to the police lines after he danced in uniform during the festivities at Yadav's residence. The incident has sparked controversy, with many criticizing Yadav's behavior. The incident also highlights the blurring of lines between personal and official duties in India, where politicians often use their positions to exert influence over subordinates.
In the battle for 2024, the place is hogging the limelight, primarily because of Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav, who according to some opinion polls, may turn out to be the dark horse when votes are counted on June 4.
"The meeting was very fruitful and we all are very happy with the outcome. I could not attend the press conference after the conclave as I had to come back to Patna. My effort is to unite all opposition parties ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, and now things are taking shape," the Janata Dal-United leader said.
'The only thing that makes Nitish Kumar acceptable to Biharis, to the Mahagatbandhan allies, is the BJP.'
'Unlike past governments, we never protect or save criminals.'
Apart from opening up the possibility of a tie-up for the 2014 general election, the crucial Congress support to Nitish Kumar's trust vote also has other advantages, notes Anita Katyal.
Kanhaiya will meet top non-Bharatiya Janata Party leaders and will visit his native village in Begusarai district to meet his parents.
Nitish Kumar has to make an existential choice: Between governance and politics, argues Aditi Phadnis.
The preferred format would be for the top BJP leadership in the government to reach out to the alliance leaders on a case-to-case basis.
They met at Modi's residence in New Delhi a day after the NDA won a majority of seats in the Lok Sabha election, paving the way for him to take the oath for a third consecutive term, a first for any ruling alliance since 1962.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday said the Janata Dal-United would welcome rebel Rashtriya Janata Dal members of Legislative Assembly into its fold and rejected allegations that the assembly Speaker worked at his behest by hurriedly giving recognition to the breakaway faction.
'With vendetta politics as its main plank, the BJP will be looking out for every opportunity to destabilise this Mahagatbandhan government.'
A portion of an under-construction bridge in Bihar, which was being 'dismantled', crashed into the river Ganges river on Saturday, officials said.
The move effectively makes him the second most powerful person in the party.
Notably, the JD-U has put up a better than expected performance in Lok Sabha polls.
Poll strategist-turned-politician Prashant Kishor on Wednesday asserted that if the newly formed 'Mahagathbandhan' government in Bihar provides five to 10 lakh jobs in the next one or two years, he would withdraw his 'Jan Suraj Abhiyan' and extend support to the Nitish Kumar dispensation.
Lalu Yadav's party said that it was only in Bihar that the CM had a case under Section 302 filed against him.
The longest-serving chief minister of any Hindi- speaking state, Nitish Kumar seems to have acquired an aura of indispensability when it comes to the highest seat of power in Bihar.
The RLSP and the HAM, the two other NDA allies, went unrepresented.
"The JD-U and BJP are engaging in shadow boxing. There appears to be an agreement between BJP and JD-U that they would play Hindu and Muslim cards, respectively, to confuse voters," Paswan said while commenting on the recent tiff between the two ruling coalition partners of Bihar.
Holding that the revised draft order on NCTC suffers from several "serious flaws" and "arbitrary" provisions, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday asked the Centre to seek Parliament's nod through a wider debate for creating the federal anti-terror agency.
Ending speculations, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar will campaign for his party, Janata Dal (United), nominees in Uttar Pradesh assembly polls from January 29.
Portfolios were on Tuesday allocated in the new Bihar cabinet headed by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar who, predictably, retained the all-important home department which helps him keep direct control on the state police.
Gopalkrishna Gandhi also called up Kumar to say thanks.
'There is also a possibility that Andhra Pradesh may demand a similar package. But as of now, we are only working on a package for Bihar.'
Her lone engineer son, Nishant, lit the funeral pyre. Manju Sinha died in a private hospital in New Delhi on Monday after a prolonged illness.
