Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad and Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav, two prominent opponents of Women's Reservation Bill, had a nearly 20-minute interaction with Congress president Sonia Gandhi in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, but both sides appeared to have failed to convince each other.
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.
Perhaps to counter Congress's yuvraj Rahul Gandhi during the Bihar Assembly elections, Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Lalu Prasad has launched his son Tejaswi Yadav into politics. Rated as a promising cricketer, Tejaswi plays for Delhi.
The TMC chief, however, parried questions on her reservations about the Congress's alliance with the Left in her state and the Aam Aadmi Party threatening a "walkout" if support was not forthcoming on the ordinance of control of services in Delhi.
Sonia Gandhi on Sunday hosted her first Iftar in three years, which saw the Congress president sharing a table with leaders of RJD and its new-found ally Janata Dal-United.
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.
He spent a month in judicial custody in connection with a forgery case, an offshoot of the multi-crore rupee flood relief scam.
Altogether, 38 other suppliers, including five women, were sentenced to prison terms ranging between two and a half years and five years and a fine of up to Rs 2.75 lakh each.
The party was reacting to Kumar's decision to resign as Bihar chief minister and leaving the Mahagathbandhan alliance in the state and also dealing a body blow to the opposition bloc INDIA.
Sticking to his offer of 11 Lok Sabha seats to the Congress and one to Nationalist Congress Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal supremo Lalu Prasad on Sunday appealed to Sonia Gandhi to agree to the seat-sharing formula asserting that he would deliver results in Bihar and Jharkhand in the general elections.
As the political drama unfolds in Bihar, Janata Dal-United chief Sharad Yadav on Monday said the decision of Nitish Kumar to quit as Chief Minister is 'final'.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar asserted that the NDA government, led by him, put an end to frequent Hindu-Muslim clashes in the state by taking measures such as fencing graveyards and bringing to justice those involved in communal riots. He also criticized the opposition, particularly Tejashwi Yadav, accusing them of lacking understanding and experience. Kumar's claims were met with anger and walkout by the opposition members.
Ending speculation, Janata Dal-United Chief Sharad Yadav has been re-nominated from Madhepura as the party released the second list of 32 candidates for Lok Sabha election in Bihar.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's move to get reservation for women in legislatures promises to shape the political discourse ahead of key state polls and Lok Sabha elections, and a parliamentary approval to the long-contested proposal will be used by the Bharatiya Janata Party to burnish his credentials as a decisive leader.
'Rahul is not even a lamp before the sun'
The 'mock Parliament' initiated by Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav and Janata Dal-United leader Sharad Yadav on the MP's salary hike issue last week has turned out to be a major irritation for Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, who is reportedly contemplating stepping down.
Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav announced that Indian Railways will offer hi-tech services on board.
Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav on Friday claimed that Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had 'begged for forgiveness for past betrayals' before his parents, party supremo Lalu Prasad and ex-CM Rabri Devi, before they allied with the Janata Dal-United president in 2022.
No major announcements or tariff changes for freight or passenger segment likely to be announced.
'We used to discuss how image-conscious Nitish Kumar was and his sophisticated conduct in public life. All this has become a thing of the past.'
Nitish 'sent his emissary, Prashant Kishor, to me on five different occasions.' 'Kishor seemed to indicate that if I were to assure in writing my party's support to the JD-U, the latter would pull out of the BJP alliance and rejoin the Mahagathbandhan.' A revealing excerpt from Lalu Prasad Yadav's Gopalganj To Raisina: My Political Journey.
RJD chief Lalu Prasad's elder son Tej Pratap Yadav, was interrupted twice by Governor Ram Nath Kovind and asked to repeat after he misspelled a part of the oath.
The Rashtriya Janata Dal leader, who is currently away in Delhi, also said the Bharatiya Janata Party will be left embarrassed if he made public the panchnama (seizure list) signed after the raids.
The prestigious Pataliputra Lok Sabha seat will witness a contest between BJP's Ram Kripal Yadav, the long-time confidante of Lalu Yadav who recently quit RJD and joined the saffron front, and Lalu's eldest daughter Misa Bharti. M I Khan reports from Pastna.
While politicians and pundits speculate a strong possibility of their coming together, the two young leaders, however, told prying journalists their meeting was a result of "family relations" that went back to ties shared by their fathers.
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Nitish Kumar has spotted a secular trend in Bihar and with the minority's support he could trump Lalu Prasad, says Aditi Phadnis
Bihar leaders oppose Delimitation Commission proposal.
Rashtriya Janata Dal President Lalu Prasad on Saturday said that Congress was in a strong position in Uttar Pradesh assembly elections mainly due to hard work done by Rahul Gandhi.
Tej Pratap created a flutter a few days back with a tweet that was seen by many as signalling a rift with his younger brother Tejashwi.
The Delhi police is under the Centre hence they need to explain about the issuance of license in violation of rules, the Rashtriya Janata Dal leader said.
Foot-in-the-mouth seems to be a common syndrome afflicting many politicians who find it too tough to be politically correct all the time.
Vaihayasi Pande Daniel -- who covers the Sheena Bora murder trial for Rediff.com -- reports on a day in a Ranchi court.
Both Houses had to be adjourned twice after agitated opposition members accused the Centre of trying to divide people on communal lines.
He is not experienced enough to run a state and ultimately "Lalu would have been at the helm" of Bihar, Bharti said.
The four choices offered to candidates were: Sharad Yadav, Shatrughan Sinha, Lalu Prasad Yadav and Vijay Rupani.
Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav on Friday blamed Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for coordinating a ''murderous attack'' against protesting members of the Opposition.
Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad's controversial brother-in-law Sadhu Yadav has been given a pride of place in the publicity committee of the Congress in poll-bound Bihar.
