The Bharatiya Janata Party in Bihar is in trouble ahead of the upcoming state assembly polls as two of its ally the Lok Janshakti Party and the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party on Sunday played pressure game to bargain for more seats.
'The poor manner in which the RJD stitched its alliance and mismanaged its electioneering, now reveals that Tejashwi was more interested in enhancing his political stature by cutting down many senior leaders, by downsizing and shrinking RJD allies, by displaying arrogance and inaccessibility and by committing silly mistakes in candidate selection,' points out Mohammad Sajjad.
The statements made by the opposition parties after the preemptive air strike on terror camps have made only people of Pakistan happy, he claimed.
Given Nitish's track record as an accomplished trapeze artist who can dump the BJP overnight and embrace the RJD, he can leave the saffron party stranded should he fail to get the chief ministerial crown for the fourth time, notes Virendra Kapoor.
Polling for 16 Rajya Sabha seats in four states will be held on Friday amid allegations of attempts at horse-trading by rival parties which have corralled their MLAs in hotels and scenic resorts, prompting the Election Commission to appoint special observers and order videography of the entire exercise.
JD-U leaders believe Prashant Kishor's entry would benefit its case for contesting a larger number of seats in Bihar in next year's general election.
Modi, 68, was administered the oath of office and secrecy by President Ram Nath Kovind at a glittering ceremony at the forecourt of majestic Rashtraparti Bhavan.
A day after taking the oath of office, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Saturday held a marathon meeting on the law and order situation and stressed to senior civil and police officials that "there shall be no compromise on the rule of law".
'It is the RJD, otherwise known for misgovernance, which has offered a candidate of clean and performing credentials, rather than the NDA,' points out Mohammad Sajjad.
Here is the lowdown of the each state and parties.
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'In Bihar, the Dalits are not a consolidated socio-political constituency,' says Mohammad Sajjad.
All the drama from inside Bihar's legislative assembly.
An estimated 57 per cent of the electorate cast their votes in the first phase of the Bihar assembly election in 49 constituencies on a violence-free note on Monday.
Shiv Sena said that Dalit Prez candidate has been chosen for vote-bank politics.
While Congress is focusing on its commitment to the aam aadmi through its slogans, its arch rival BJP has built its campaign around its prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi for the 16th Lok Sabha elections.
Sharad Yadav says that reports about disquiet among the factions are 'sponsored'.
The BJP, which has two MLAs in the MDA government, backed the Cabinet decision.
The Bharatiya Janata Party's quest to strengthen its base in north India starts from Bihar, says Bharat Bhushan.
Modi and Shah can't afford to lose any of the 24 per cent Dalit vote of 2014, says Shekhar Gupta.
Modi's NDA is good enough to give a psychological boost to the once 'untouchable' BJP and Modi but if the NDA doesn't get a majority on its own, then walking the last mile will be the greatest challenge of this election for Modi, says Sheela Bhatt/Rediff.com
This was the first major election in the country amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Obviously, the women of Bihar were not intimidated by the pandemic and came out in large numbers to vote.
Around 40,000 Delhi Police personnel, 190 coys (companies) of Central Armed Police Forces and 19,000 Home Guards have been deployed for smooth conduct of election in the national capital, officials said.
Nitish Kumar will be the chief minister only till the time the BJP wishes, points out Ramesh Menon.
'Whether or not Chandrashekhar Azad succeeds or fails electorally, he has already made democratic politics more accountable to Dalits.'
An interplay of Modi government's outreach in Bihar and the sequence of events in Chirag Paswan's life could make Bihar a game of musical chairs when the results are out.
Many BJP leaders are of the view that most key members of the previous Cabinet could be retained.
A "record" 57.59 per cent of over 1.46 crore voters cast their ballots in 55 assembly seats in Bihar on Sunday in the fourth and penultimate round of polling.
Rahul Gandhi's birthday greeting to the DMDK supremo signifies that the Congress vice president is expanding his ambit of functioning and graduating from handling just organisational affairs, reports Anita Katyal.
The disaster management department said that the state government has urged the Indian Air Force to send a helicopter for air-dropping of food packets and other relief material in marooned areas.
Patna residents discuss what may happen when the EVMs are unlocked on Sunday morningwith Prasanna D Zore/Rediff.com
Biju Janata Dal members had staged a walk-out while NDA ally Shiv Sena did not participate in the voting.
Factors such as industrial backwardness, crime, poor infrastructure, erratic power supply and poor educational infrastructure will take a backseat to identity
Coming full circle, Ram Vilas Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party, which left the National Democratic Alliance in 2002, is all set to align with in Bihar for Lok Sabha polls, giving a jolt to Congress' plans to have a "secular" alliance with LJP and Rashtriya Janata Dal.
'If Nitish goes alone, he will be washed away.' 'If he hand holds the BJP, it will again crush him because it will be known that he has sided with the BJP because he doesn't have any other option.' 'Lalu knows Nitish coming back will be a political gain for Lalu.'
In a season of political deal-making, it would seem the BJP is not only keener to win new friends but is ahead of rival Congress in the game. Its only competition, if at all, has come from regional satraps and the Left parties, which on Tuesday resolved to fight the elections together against both the Congress and BJP.
This is the fifth time that Nitish will be the chief minister of Bihar and this will be his third consecutive term.
The BJP also suspended its state executive council member Kheto Semaparty, who had signed the joint declaration.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley appealed to parties to rise above partisan considerations to support it.
The BJP cobbles up the numbers to stake a claim to form a government in Imphal. But ruling the restive state won't be easy, says Chitra Ahanthem.
