There was a delay in sowing of kharif onion because of late arrival of monsoon and later floods in many states damaged the crop.
Gandhi, then a newly appointed Congress chief, had staked claim to form the government at the Centre after the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had lost the vote of confidence in the Lok Sabha on April 17, 1999.
"Every person who wants development in Bihar, wants unemployment and corruption to end in the state and wants migration to stop is voting for the candidates of BJP and LJP. "This time the people have voted for change and development. The feedback I am getting from my party candidates and workers clearly indicates that Chief Minister Nitish Kumar won't be able to retain his position after November 10. "BJP-LJP will form a new government in Bihar," Paswan said.
'Maybe the BJP believes, in the post-poll scenario, it will have the might to foist, anybody endorsed by the RSS, upon Bihar,' observes Mohammad Sajjad.
"The price cap has been imposed taking into account the sharp increase in prices of raw materials used in making of face masks and hand santiser," Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said.
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.
"The majority is very thin and anything can happen. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's party -- JD-U finished third and if anyone is celebrating the win, it's a joke. The BJP has done well, for which it had to do a lot of political strategising," he said.
Kumari, a lion-hearted 15-year-old, cycled all the way from Gurugram in Haryana to Bihar's Darbhanga district with her incapacitated father Mohan Paswan seated on the carrier. Now the father-daughter duo is at a quarantine centre near their village Sirhulli under Singhwara block of the district.
"If the current Chief Minister again wins this election by mistake then our state will lose. Our state will again stand on the verge of getting ruined. "I wonder how he promotes casteism. It is not appropriate to imagine the development of Bihar under the leadership of a person who promotes communalism," Paswan said while launching the party's manifesto for the Bihar assembly polls.
Besides the four ministerial berths, the Congress has also sought the post of Speaker of the state assembly, but Kumar is not keen on giving that, sources said.
Bihar school girl Jyoti Kumari, who cycled 1200 km with her injured father from New Delhi to Darbhanga, will appear for Cycling Federation of India trials once the lockdown ends even though finishing matriculation is her primary aim. Rendered jobless and penniless because of the extended coronavirus lockdown, the 15-year-old was forced to ferry her father who was unable to walk properly after a surgery to his left knee following an accident.
The petition sought setting aside speaker's June 14 circular showing the name of Paras as leader of Jan Lokshakti Party in the Lok Sabha.
'Chirag Paswan's game plan would be to push out Nitish Kumar from this alliance, but that is only possible if the BJP wins about 90 seats and the LJP wins between 25-30 seats.'
The LJP will also be given a Rajya Sabha berth and Paswan is likely to be its candidate.
A part of the Hajipur Lok Sabha seat, Raghopur assembly segment in Vaishali district will vote in the second phase on November 3. The 31-year-old, the younger son of Lalu Prasad, had taken the electoral plunge from Raghopur in 2015, when he had barely reached the qualifying age of 25 for fighting polls.
The JD-U leader was seen sitting with Tej Pratap and Tejashwi Yadav, the sons of RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav.
Yadav also called for firming up of an Opposition alliance to take on the BJP in the 2024 general elections, suggesting that the Congress must focus on over 200 seats on which it is in direct fight with the saffron party, while taking a 'backseat' in states where regional parties are a formidable force.
'When our forefathers were fighting for Independence from British rule, Jinnah was pushing for the creation of an Islamic state'
The NDA has retained Bihar with a wafer-thin majority of 125 seats in the 243-member assembly, paving the way for a fourth term for CM Nitish Kumar.
Sharad Pawar reckons that the NCP has value as a united, going concern, not as a gaggle of leaders in search of followers, notes Shreekant Sambrani.
Uncertainty shadows the composition of the two main political alliances in Bihar with several parties still exploring their choices as the Election Commission on Friday announced the schedule for the assembly polls.
Janata Dal-United parliamentary board chief Upendra Kushwaha said that violence was 'deplorable' but hastened to add 'Besides making an appeal for peace, we can do little'.
The New York Times story on Delhi's education system was based on 'an impartial and on-the-ground reporting', the American newspaper said on Friday, rejecting the paid news charge.
Shukla claimed that the current Nitish Kumar-led dispensation would be ousted after the elections and people have started protesting against the ruling alliance leaders in public meetings.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal-United on Wednesday asserted that it was "not scared of ED and CBI" following its break-up with the Bharatiya Janata Party, which rules the Centre and is often accused by the opposition of misusing investigating agencies.
According to the food ministry, about 142 lakh migrants will benefit in Uttar Pradesh and in Bihar (86.45 lakh), Maharasthra (70 lakh), West Bengal (60.1 lakh), Madhya Pradesh (54.64 lakh), Rajasthan (44.66 lakh), Karnataka (40.19 lakh), Gujarat (38.25 lakh), Tamil Nadu (35.73 lakh), Jharkhand (26.37 lakh), Andhra Pradesh (26.82 lakh) and Assam (25.15 lakh).
The separatist amalgam appealed to the international community to intervene in putting an end to the daily violence and tragic loss of life in Kashmir by "pushing for the resolution of the lingering Kashmir conflict, which is the root cause of all this suffering".
So far, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal governments have taken the imported onions.
JD-U leaders came down heavily on the Begusarai MP for his snide remarks.
"Leaders like Vajpayee, Advani treated me with respect," the JD-U leader said.
The actor-turned-politician whose criticism of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has grown progressively sharper, didn't figure on the BJP's list of candidates for the Lok Sabha polls.
Union minister RCP Singh, who was recently denied another term in the Rajya Sabha by the Janata Dal-United he formerly headed, should "heed the message" and resign from the cabinet, a key political aide of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has said.
Yadav struck deals with the Bahujan Samaj Party, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress whenever needed to form or save the governments led by him in Uttar Pradesh.
Last week, the Union Cabinet decided to import 1.2 lakh tonnes of onions to improve the domestic supply and control prices, which touched Rs 100 per kg earlier this month.
A top BJP leader from Bihar told ANI that Fadnavis is going to play a crucial role in the Bihar assembly election and he is associated with the Bihar BJP on purpose
The longest-serving chief minister of any Hindi- speaking state, Nitish Kumar seems to have acquired an aura of indispensability when it comes to the highest seat of power in Bihar.
Loss of power in Bihar has upset the Bharatiya Janata Party's calculations for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls but a section of its leaders also see a chance for the party to break the dominance of regional parties in the state, like it has in Uttar Pradesh.
This came amid the buzz of an imminent reshuffle in the Union Cabinet.
Terms of the two dozen seats had expired last year though elections were deferred because of a delay in Panchayat polls which could not be held in time on account of the COVID 19 pandemic.
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