With Lalu Yadav's conviction in the fodder scam case, an alliance between the Congress and Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal-United should have been easier, but that may not be the case. Lalu and his militant Yadav clan will not make way for the two parties so easily, says Sheela Bhatt.
Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad on Friday reacted strongly against Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah's 'crackers in Pakistan' remark, saying it was an insult to the people of Bihar.
The development followed the arrest of chartered accountant Rajesh Kumar Agrawal by the ED.
"Our agenda is to make Indian Railways world's number one from the current third position," Railway Minister Lalu Prasad said.
On the quota for other backward classes in higher education, he said this was necessary to improve the lot of the downtrodden.
Admitting the appeal of Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad against the special Central Bureau of Investigation court's verdict in the fodder scam, the Jharkhand high court on Friday directed placing before it all records of the lower court pertaining to the case.
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.
Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com does a deep dive into four elections when Narendra Modi resorted to anti-Muslim fervour and points out that Hindu-Muslim politics does not necessarily mean victory for the BJP.
Rai hinted that his daughter might contest the coming assembly polls.
Meanwhile, hectic activity was seen at 10, Circular Road, the bungalow allotted to party president Lalu Prasad's wife Rabri Devi who shares the house with her husband and younger son Tejashwi Yadav, the deputy CM.
Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar utilised railway minister Mamata Banerjee's Rail Budget on Friday to fire another salvo at her predecessor Lalu Prasad saying the planned white paper on the present financial status of the railways would 'expose' his arch rival. Nitish, a former railway minister himself, said the white paper would unravel the truth behind Lalu's claims that Railways earned huge profits successively during his five-year tenure.
Tej Pratap, the RJD chief's elder son said that "the numbers could swing as voters' mood is also not quite clear at the moment".
' I have seen PM Modi working diligently from 5 am in the morning to 1 am. It is a result of that there is such a large cadre with him'
The tax department had attached about a dozen plots and buildings in Delhi and Bihar.
Lalu also says bickering in the UPA cost him Bihar in the previous Assembly elections.
A R Rahman performed on the second day of the three-day bash to celebrate the 76th birthday of SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav.
Resolving to take the debacle in the Lok Sabha elections in its stride, the Rashtriya Janata Dal legislature party on Tuesday expressed 'unflinching faith' in the leadership of its president Lalu Prasad.
Kanhaiya will meet top non-Bharatiya Janata Party leaders and will visit his native village in Begusarai district to meet his parents.
Addressing an election meeting, Dr Singh repeatedly eulogised Lalu.
Kumar's comments quoting 16th century poet Rahim were seen as a veiled attack on Lalu.
A portion of the dias crumbled as party supporters jostled with each other, prompting Pervez Khan and others to lend support to the RJD chief and prevent him from tripping, police said.
Akhilesh Yadav's stock rose dramatically on Tuesday with his Samajwadi Party cutting the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party down to size in Uttar Pradesh.
"This budget is most directionless budget presented by the Union railway minister Lalu Prasad...it's nothing but jugglery of words," BJP spokesperson Shahnawaj Hussain said. "Railway minister should also present an outcome and performance budget after each railway budget so that people could know which of promises made during his rail budgets were actually implemented," party general secretary Ananth Kumar said.
Lalu landed in a soup after a news channel expose about a purported conversation with murder convict Mohammad Shahabuddin.
Bihar's ruling JD-U and Lalu Prasad's RJD on Sunday decided to contest the state assembly elections in alliance and constitute a six member committee to finalize seat-sharing.
In yet another blow to Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, another close confidante and senior party leader Ram Nihori Yadav resigned from the party on Sunday.
On a visit to relief camps of riot victims in Muzaffarnagar, Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav on Sunday blamed both the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Samajwadi Party for the communal violence here even as he heaped praise on Rahul Gandhi, saying Narendra Modi and Arvind Kejriwal were nothing in front of the Congress vice-president.
"It is our victory as the apex court has not ordered revival of the dissolved assembly," said Lalu.
Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav was on Monday released from Birsa Munda Central Jail in Ranchi, two-and-a-half months after he was convicted in a fodder scam case.
Togadia also urged the Nitish Kumar-led government to take immediate steps to check ISI activities and make concerted efforts to tone up the administration to tackle the law and order problem.
The car was subjected to several physical tests and various aspects concerning the nature of the damage on its body and interiors would be investigated, the police said.
Lalu is accused in five of the 39 cases related to the scam.
Central Bureau of Investigation special court judge Sanjay Prasad framed the charges against Yadav for fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 3.13 crore from Dumka treasury between December, 1995 and January, 1996.
