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.
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.
On the sets of One and Only, a romantic film starring newcomer Chirag, son of Lok Janshakti Party's president Ram Vilas Paswan.
"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.
Lok Janshakti Party Saturday said it would go it alone in the May 8 Tamil Nadu Assembly polls and contest from about 100 constituencies.
Bihar leaders oppose Delimitation Commission proposal.
The Supreme Court order that Bihar Government had no authority to challenge Lalu Prasad's acquittal in a disproportionate assets case has not gone down well with the ruling National Democratic Alliance in Bihar, though the Rashtriya Janata Dal chief and his Lok Janshakti Party counterpart Ram Vilas Paswan welcomed the verdict.
"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.
The exercise for government formation in Bihar on Saturday gained momentum.
The Lok Janshakti Party chief is unhappy with Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Laloo Prasad Yadav for reportedly denying him the railway ministry.
Asked whether his party would support any decision taken by the Congress, Karunanidhi said: "Oh yes."
Bihar Member of Legislative Assembly Zakir Anwar alias Zakir Mian is among the criminals of Indian origin wanted by the Nepal police.
Releasing the list of LJP candidates, Paswan said his party would contest from around 200 seats leaving 37 and 3 for its electoral allies -- CPI and Forward Bloc.
Lok Janshakti Party leader Ram Vilas Paswan on Thursday said the creamy layer should not be excluded from reservation benefits while Congress leader Digvijay Singh said Parliament was supreme in policy issues.
'People in politics have lost the value of being connected to their own people.' 'Now it's all about vote share, vote bank, how many parties can you break and make them join you.'
A delegation of members of Parliament and civil society members, who are on a "fact-finding" tour of Jammu and Kashmir, on Saturday asked the Centre to start a dialogue process for resolution of Kashmir issue and include separatist leaders like Syed Ali Shah Geelani in it.
A first information report was lodged on Friday against Lok Janshakti Party Member of Parliament Surajbhan Singh for his alleged involvement in murder of Ramnaresh Sharma, a senior advocate in Bihar's Begusarai town.
The new Lok Sabha will have 300 MPs who have been elected for the first time to the Lower House.
'The arithmetic of the outcome shows that Nitish is not likely to jettison the BJP, which he might have been tempted to do had he won a majority on his own.'
The anti-NDA alliances are still nebulous.
To keep their MLAs together, political parties are organising dinner meetings and arranging hotel stays for them ahead of the council elections, which are taking place just three months ahead of the assembly polls in the state.
The development highlights worsening of the ties between the two BJP allies in the state.
Rashtriya Janata Dal and Lok Janshakti Party leaders Lalu Prasad and Ramvilas Paswan on Monday said that the three Bihar policemen held hostage for eight days by Maoists had been freed on humanitarian grounds and the Nitish Kumar government could not take credit for it.
A Bihar court on Wednesday issued fresh summons to Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad, his wife Rabri Devi and Lok Janshakti Party President Ramvilas Paswan directing them to appear before it in person on September 15 in a case in which they are accused of damaging public property.
A state-wide shutdown spearheaded by the opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal Lok Janshakti Party combine in Bihar against the recent hike in fuel prices began on Saturday morning.Elaborate security arrangements have been made to prevent any untoward incidents. Essential services including hospitals, water supply and electricity supply have been exempted from the purview of the shutdown.The administration will try to keep all links to major towns open.
The Congress party on Wednesday gave a deadline to Lok Janshakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan up to September 23 to decide whether it wanted to come with Rashtriya Janata Dal-led United Progressive Alliance in the coming Bihar Assembly polls.
Apparently angry over the delay in finalisation of seats among United Progressive Alliance allies in Bihar, Lok Janshakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan on Saturday stepped up pressure on the Rashtriya Janata Dal, threatening to go it alone if an alliance does not happen soon. "I have directed my party workers to be ready to contest on all 40 seats in Bihar as the alliance talks do not appear to have fructified till now," said Paswan.
Surajbhan Singh was named in the report as a conspirator on whose instigation the Chunnu Singh gang allegedly shot dead RJD leaders Akhilesh Rai and Ram Udesh Rai on April 13, 2006, under Mushari police station.
Fourteen of the 17 independent MLAs of the dissolved house held a meeting in Patna on Saturday night.
It was a changed scenario in the new Lok Sabha with the churning brought out by the elections throwing in contrasts.
Those joining Prime Minister Narendra Modi's council of ministers for the first time include three former chief ministers -- Shivraj Singh Chouhan (Madhya Pradesh), Manohar Lal Khattar (Haryana) and H D Kumaraswamy (Karnataka).
The CM was present at the Patna airport to receive body of the LJP founder with whom he spent long time in the politics. The CM and other leaders cutting across party lines paid respect to the septuagenarian leader, who died in Delhi on Thursday, at the airport premises.
The meeting comes as part of Paswan's efforts to seek support of like-minded parties in a bid to form a government in Bihar, now under President's rule.
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