Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday said his government will undertake a "socio-economic survey of all castes and communities" in the state, following the Centre's reluctance to conduct a caste census nationally.
'Everyone relies on caste to win elections in Bihar.'
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.
A day after holding marathon talks with Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, Congress poll strategist Prashant Kishor on Monday held closed-door meeting with Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav
BJP president Amit Shah on Thursday said that fire-crackers will burst in Pakistan if the NDA did not form the next government in Bihar.
Campaigning for May 13 elections in 96 Lok Sabha constituencies across 10 states and Union territories including all seats in Andhra Pradesh, where assembly elections are also being held concurrently, and Telangana concluded on Saturday evening.
Amid heightened speculation of an alliance between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Lok Janshakti Party, an influential section of the Bihar BJP has expressed its disapproval of the tie-up, saying it will harm the party's anti-corruption plank and hurt its support base.
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday launched a 'virtual' election campaign in Bihar making a veiled attack against his bete noire Nitish Kumar saying those who 'betrayed' BJP will be defeated by people of the state.
Names of eight-term MLA from Gaya town Prem Kumar and that of Kameshwar Choupal, a Dalit MLC who had laid the foundation stone for the temple at Ayodhya in the 1990s, are also doing the rounds for the post in the political circles.
With the ruling National Democratic Alliance coalition in Bihar coming under strain, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday reminded the Janata Dal-United that while it respected its ideology, the latter should also reciprocate by giving the saffron party 'breathing space' so that both partners could consolidate their individual support base.
As the exit polls were sharply split on who would get to rule Bihar, Rashtriya Janata Dal supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav on Saturday said their grand Mahagatbadhan alliance would win the Bihar Assembly polls with 190 seats.
A day after the National Democratic Alliance finalised the seat-sharing arrangement for the Bihar assembly elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party has emerged as the 'big-brother' and the largest party in the state to contest the number of seats.
"Nitish Kumar and his officers will be behind bars if we come to power," Paswan said. Addressing a rally in Dumraon, Buxar in the run-up to polling in Bihar, Paswan raised several questions before the present state government.
Most JD-U ministers favour a return to the BJP-led NDA ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
"If the direction of satellites to Mars and Moon can be controlled from the earth, then why can't EVM be hacked," Udit Raj said in a tweet in Hindi. "If elections were held in America with EVMs, could Trump have lost," he asked.
Paswan also asserted that he has been working on his 'Bihar first, Bihari first' agenda for a long time and had informed the BJP leadership about his differences with the Kumar-led government well in advance.
Today, a friendship forged by common ideals behind prison walls has become a transactional understanding, notes Aditi Phadnis.
Unfazed by strident criticism of his cousin Maharashtra Navnirman Sena leader Raj Thackeray over his anti-Bihari remarks, Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday sought a permit system to check the influx of Bihari migrants into Mumbai.
In a veiled attack on Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi days after the Janata Dal-United split from the National Democratic Alliance, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Friday asserted that the country needs a leader who can unite and not a "divisive" figure.
'Wait for 2019, there will be no space for the BJP in UP.'
National Democratic Alliance on Saturday lambasted the United progressive Alliance government for its decision to hike diesel prices every month and said a meeting of alliance partners would be convened to chalk out a strategy to be adopted during the upcoming Budget Session of Parliament on price rise.
The Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) will get a 'decisive mandate' in the Lok Sabha polls and may take even less than 48 hours to decide on its prime ministerial pick, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said on Thursday, asserting that it stands to reason that the party which gets the maximum seats in the alliance will be a 'natural claimant' for its leadership.
The demand was made by Akhtarul Iman, state president of Asaduddin Owaisi's AIMIM no sooner than he rose to take oath in Urdu.
'Leave alone top gear, we are in the neutral and when we are applying gears, we are applying reverse'
Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal-United on Sunday exuded confidence that its national president, who was sworn in as Bihar CM for a record ninth time after forming a new government with the Bharatiya Janata Party, will win Monday's trust vote.
A visibly happy Nitish Kumar went to the Raj Bhavan to submit his resignation on Wednesday even as counting of votes in all 243 assembly constituencies was underway. The Bihar cabinet on Tuesday decided to recommend the dissolution of the state assembly to Governor Debanand Konwar
The 17-year-old alliance between the Janata Dal-United and the Bharatiya Janata Party will come to an end on Sunday. An announcement to this effect will be made following a crucial meeting of the JD-U at 12.30 pm.
Five days before the Big Opposition rally in Patna, one of the Mahagathbandhan's allies will walk out of the ruling alliance.
The Janata Dal-United leader maintained that having taken the initiative to bring parties opposed to the Bharatiya Janata Party, he desired nothing for himself but admitted having stressed at the meeting the need to expedite seat-sharing arrangements.
National Democratic Alliance constitutent Janata Dal (United) on Friday advocated a cautious approach for the Opposition alliance on Presidential election downplaying former President APJ Abdul Kalam's visit to Patna, saying no politics should be read into it.
The BJP, which has traditionally been considered as the party of upper castes and Vaishyas/Baniyas, seems to be consolidating its base especially among Vaishyas and EBCs.
In an interview with CNN-IBN's National Editor Bhupendra Choubey, former National Security Advisor and principal secretary to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpyee, Brajesh Mishra talks about the recent crisis in National Democratic Alliance surrounding Gujarat Chuef Minister Narendra Modi and his Bihar counterpart Nitish Kumar.
Without naming Chirag Paswan, the legislators are reported to have recalled the actions of the former Lok Janshakti Party chief during the 2020 state assembly polls while warning the CM that if they were not alert, it would not be good for the party.
The Bharatiya Janata Party began seat-sharing negotiations with its National Democratic Alliance allies in seven states so that it can finalise its candidates soon. Three senior leaders have been empowered to conduct the negotiations: M Venkaiah Naidu in Maharashtra, Assam and Orissa, Arun Jaitley in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh and Sushma Swaraj in Punjab and Haryana.
They said they will raise issues related to rising prices, unemployment, corruption and caste census.
Objectionable social media posts against ministers, members of Parliament and the state legislature, other elected representatives and government officials shall be counted as cyber crime and warrant penal action, says a missive issued by a top police official in Bihar.
In a fresh salvo apparently aimed at alliance partner Janata Dal - United, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi on Saturday said the Bharatiya Janata Party would not take it lying down if any of its allies tries to impose its views on the party.
In the morning, he offered prayers at the Dashashwamedh Ghat and the Kaal Bhairav temple in Varanasi.
A day after his landslide victory in the Bihar assembly polls, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was on Thursday elected as the leader of the National Democratic Alliance legislature party in the 15th Bihar assembly.
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