The invite to Paswan from the BJP assumes significance as this made it clear that the LJP remains a member of the NDA despite walking out of the alliance in Bihar during the state assembly polls.
The RJD is yet to complete its seat-sharing talks with smaller allies and the Left parties.
After the National Democratic Alliance swept the assembly polls in Bihar, rediff.com's N Ganesh spoke to Biharis in Mumbai to gauge their reactions to Nitish Kumar's impressive performance.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has sought an assurance from the Bharatiya Janata Party that his Gujarat counterpart Narendra Modi will not be National Democratic Alliance's prime ministerial candidate for the 2014 general elections.
The gross expenses made by the party, including by the central headquarters and the state unit between the announcement and completion of the elections, stood at nearly Rs 71.73 crore, while the gross receipts during this period were to the tune of Rs 35.83 crore.
BJP sources said a meeting of the National Democratic Alliance is expected to take place soon to highlight its growing strength and to dispel the impression that the departure of some of its oldest allies such as the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena, Shiromani Akali Dal and the Janata Dal-United have the left the saffron party without a major partner.
The ruling party seems in far better shape than the Congress, which is yet to finalise seat-sharing agreements in several states.
Voting for the second phase of Lok Sabha polls will be held on Friday for 88 seats in 13 states with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi seeking a second-straight term from Wayanad in Kerala.
The opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) was in the grip of a crisis on Saturday with the Janata Dal-United saying the alliance was collapsing amid indications that Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar will switch back to the National Democratic Alliance, prompting the Congress to allege that the Bharatiya Janata Party is doing its best to cause a 'mini implosion' in the coalition.
After a dream debut seven years ago when he was sworn in as deputy chief minister after being elected MLA for the first time was followed by a slump in his political fortunes, Tejashwi Yadav has finally come back to center-stage as the kingmaker and deputy to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
Yadav took to social media and shared video clips and pictures of the deployment of security personnel, including police and rapid action force, with barricades near his house here, a stone's throw away from the Samajwadi Party headquarters.
A day after walking out of the National Democratic Alliance, Janata Dal-United President Sharad Yadav on Monday said his party could consider coming back to the alliance if veteran Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani gets back at the helm of the party.
As the battle lines are drawn between the United Progressive Alliance and the National Democratic Alliance, the NDA is now beginning to smell power, says Neerja Chowdhury
Police, however, said a link between the social media post and the assault has not been established yet.
"We will ban cow slaughter in Bihar if the BJP comes to power," former deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi said.
The feud between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Janata Dal United, over whether Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi could be the prime ministerial candidate for the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, worsened on Wednesday.
The meeting of the 14-member all-important panel of the opposition will take place at the residence of Nationalist Congress Party leader Sharad Pawar in New Delhi on September 13 evening.
Clad in a yellow kurta with a saffron gamcha around his neck, atop an open saffron coloured vehicle, he was greeted by loud chants of "Modi! Modi! Modi Zindabad! 400 Paar Is Baar" all along the roadshow's route.
The 2014 Lok Sabha election saw the Bharatiya Janata Party led by Narendra Modi storm to power at the Centre with a "triple century", giving the National Democratic Alliance an unexpected 336 seats in the Lok Sabha .
Polling is scheduled in all 20 seats of Kerala, 14 of the 28 seats in Karnataka, 13 seats in Rajasthan, eight seats each in Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, six seats in Madhya Pradesh, five seats each in Assam and Bihar, three seats each in Chhattisgarh and West Bengal, and one seat each in Manipur, Tripura and Jammu and Kashmir.
Manjhi said Paswan has never raised a voice for rights of the Dalits and the poorest of the poor.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday said R C P Singh, whom his Janata Dal-United has denied another term in the Rajya Sabha, does not need to resign as a Union minister ahead of the expiry of his Rajya Sabha tenure.
Prasad can still influence the power play in Patna if not change it, reports Satyavrat Mishra.
As voting begins in Bihar in the first phase of assembly elections on Wednesday, the fate of political leaders depends on how the electorate perceives they can solve ground-level issues from reverse migration to tackling the COVID-19 pandemic.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has sought to send out the message that the ruling BJP, unlike its predecessors at the helm, is not guided by parochial politics in recognising contributions in the public life, as the party looks to break new ground during the polls.
The final phase of polling on Saturday will cover 78 constituencies spread across 19 north Bihar districts.
Lalu Prasad and his Muslim-Yadav line has completely gone off track.
The proposed Communal Violence Bill on Saturday ran into trouble with the National Democratic Alliance-ruled states and Congress ally Trinamool Congress opposing it as "dangerous" legislation and arguing that it would hurt the federal structure of the country.
Top leaders of 26 opposition parties were arriving in Bengaluru on Monday for a two-day brainstorming session with a call for unity and are expected to chalk out their joint programme aimed at defeating the Bharatiya Janata Party in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Even until Monday, some senior BJP leaders, including those from Bihar, were of the view that the JD-U leader was engaging in brinkmanship to pressure his bigger partner to be more accommodative.
Amid speculation that it may split from the National Democratic Alliance on the Narendra Modi issue, the Janata Dal-United leadership in Bihar has asked its MLAs and MLCs to be present in Patna on June 14 and 15 to decide the fate of the alliance with BJP.
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.
The Begusarai MP said the 'wyavastha (dispensation)' is responsible for the problems being faced by the people in the current situation.
While the relation between the LJP and the JD-U has long been far from smooth, Manjhi's entry in the NDA has added to its pique against the JD-U.
Mounting an attack on the Centre on behalf of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance at the chief ministers' conclave in New Delhi, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday claimed that certain states have been 'sidetracked' during the United Progressive Alliance's fight against terrorism. Nitish Kumar shared his misgivings about the National Investigation Agency encroaching upon the state's powers.
Most leaders agreed for early finalisation of poll plans for 2024 stressing that there was no time left with them and mere meetings would not help.
'When he was sidelined in the INDIA bloc, it was was the turning point because it badly hurt Nitish's ambition.' 'After that, he decided to damage INDIA by changing sides.'
With the Bharatiya Janata Party-Janata Dal-United rift widening in Bihar, the Congress on Monday virtually ruled out a tie-up with Chief Minister Nitish Kumar if the alliance breaks, saying his "communal face" had been exposed.
The debacle that pollsters faced in the Bihar assembly elections is in part being blamed on the small sample size and lack of advancement in field surveys, says Sahil Makkar
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