The maverick MLA came out with the announcement, claiming, as always, that he had "the blessings of Lalu Prasad", at a time when he was left licking his wounds after losing the battle in a tug of war with state RJD chief Jagadanand Singh.
Top political leaders of Bihar, including Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Rashtriya Janata Dal supremo Lalu Prasad and Lok Janshakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan, on Monday strongly condemned the attack on Samajwadi Party Member of Legislative Assembly Abu Asim Azmi.Nitish Kumar condemned the incident and declared that it had again exposed the MNS' true colours "We will take the matter up with the Union government as well as the Maharashtra government."
In a setback to the Bharatiya Janata Party ahead of the assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh, Bharatiya Janshakti Party president Uma Bharti's elder brother Swami Prasad Lodhi resigned from the party on Monday.
Sonia held discussions with Nationalist Congress Party president Sharad Pawar, Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Lalu Prasad and Lok Janshakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan in an effort to break the logjam over the issue that has created a face-off between the Congress and the Left parties. The leaders of the UPA constituents conveyed to Sonia that they back the nuclear deal, but do not favour early polls, particularly because of high inflation.
Lok Janshakti Party supremo Ram Vilas Paswan and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Rajeev Pratap Rudy on Thursday won their respective Rajya Sabha seats from Bihar.It has been reported that the BJP and its partner Janata Dal -United are optimistic about winning three seats, while the Rashtriya Janata Dal and LJP appear confident of winning both the seats they are contesting.The RJD-LJP alliance has the support of 68 MLAs, against the requirement of 76.
The complaint was lodged by Lok Janshakti Party national secretary Ravi Brahme.
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.
Former Union minister and Lok Janshakti Party supremo Ram Vilas Paswan was arrested along with dozens of party leaders in Patna on Monday, during a 'Jail Bharo Abhiyan' to protest against failure of Nitish Kumar-led government in Bihar.
In a dramatic development in Lucknow on Wednesday, Samajwadi Party legislator Kazim Ali Khan resigned to join the ruling BSP, while Ram Sewak Singh, the lone newly-elected MLA belonging to Uma Bharti's BJP switched loyalties to the ruling party.
Bharatiya Janata Party's Varun Gandhi, Aam Aadmi Party candidate in Amethi Kumar Vishwas and Lok Janshakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan were among the prominent candidates who filed nominations on the fourth day for the penultimate phase of Lok Sabha election covering 64 seats in seven states.
The decision on whether to remove the LJD from the UPA will be taken by chairperson Sonia Gandhi.
Ruling National Democratic Allaince is gearing up for a fight to the finish with rivals -- Rashtriya Janata Dal-Lok Janshakti Party combine and Congress -- in 45 assembly constituencies spread over several districts, once considered as RJD pocket boroughs, that go to polls in the second phase on October 24.
Unlike previous years, 2007 could be termed as a politically dull year in Bihar, which in the past had always been the centrestage of politics.
Lok Janshakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan has fielded himself and two close relatives including his son and brother, to contest the Lok Sabha polls in Bihar.
"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.
Paswan said the committee will not interact with the Janata Dal (United) till it severed ties with the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance.
The Bihar assembly on Friday witnessed uproarious scenes over the alleged stripping of a 22-year-old girl in public, with Opposition members storming into the well of the House and forcing Speaker U N Choudhary to adjourn the proceedings at least four times. The issue was raised by Members of the Legislative Assembly belonging to the Rashtriya Janata Dal, Lok Janshakti Party, Congress and Left parties as soon as the House assembled.
"I have already floated this idea to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and Jan Morcha patron V P Singh and now the ball is in their court," Paswan, also the Union Steel and Fertilizers Minister, told reporters in Lucknow.
While Paswan and Singh were stopped at the Delhi-UP border, the LJP chief's younger brother and Lok Sabha member Ramchandra Paswan was taken into custody by the Uttar Pradesh Police. The leaders were going towards Greater Noida to disburse Rs two lakh as relief to the families of the victims of police firing last week.
'Neither did I approach the BJP nor did they ask me to join them. It was a natural choice for both of us to make.' 'It was never for me to ask or for them to give.'
Bharatiya Jan Shakti leader Uma Bharti on Wednesday created a flutter outside Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's residence after she was barred from attending the all-party meeting on the situation in Jammu and Kashmir.
Maharashtra Shiv Sena MLA and minister Eknath Shinde on Sunday moved the Supreme Court against the disqualification notice issued by the deputy speaker to him and 15 other rebel legislators.
There were seven candidates in the fray for the six seats.
'BJP's ultimate ambition is to control Bihar independently.'
Bhartiya Janshakti Party (BJS) national president Uma Bharti on Friday blamed the media for blowing out of proportion the incident when she had slapped twice a worker of her party at Chhindwara.
The Bharatiya Janshakti Party of firebrand leader Uma Bharti is likely to field at least 60 candidates in the Gujarat assembly elections scheduled to be held on December 11 and 16.
Jaitley said there was no place for a debate or argument on the issue of dissolution of the state Assembly, which was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.
Bihar Member of Legislative Assembly Zakir Anwar alias Zakir Mian is among the criminals of Indian origin wanted by the Nepal police.
Paswan has said that this is not a vote gimmick but a genuine concern of the party.
Paswan's announcement came following a meeting of the LJP national executive which endorsed his leadership and hit out at a faction headed by his paternal uncle Pashupati Kumar Paras for its work against the party's constitution.
JD(U) does not agree with the BJP's stand on seats.
Fresh elections are the only solution to the Bihar impasse, CPI National Secretary D Raja said.
A BJP leader in Bihar on Thursday died while taking part in a 'Vidhan Sabha march' against the state's Nitish Kumar government, evoking allegations from senior party leaders that he was "killed in a brutal lathi charge".
A delegation of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Members of Parliament, including some union ministers, on Tuesday met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to demand that an order providing reservation in government jobs be replaced by an Act to bring greater benefits to them. "Members of the SC/ST Parliamentary Forum met the prime minister today to demand that an Act is necessary to provide reservations to SC/ST, which is done through a government order," LJP chief Paswan said.
Lok Janshakti Party Saturday said it would go it alone in the May 8 Tamil Nadu Assembly polls and contest from about 100 constituencies.
Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) chief Chirag Paswan on Monday demanded a thorough probe regarding the alleged attack on Bihar migrant workers and bring the culprits to book, and ensure a hospitable atmosphere for the workforce in Tamil Nadu.
