Congress governments at the Centre and in Bihar were responsible for the anti-Sikh riots in 1984 and Bhagalpur riots in 1989 while BJP government in Gujarat was accountable for the 2002 riots in that state, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said in Patna on Tuesday.
Prasanna D Zore/Rediff.com recaps emotions on a day that Bihar waited with bated breath.
"The era of 'lalten' is gone. In the last six years consumption of electricity has increased 3 fold in Bihar," PM Modi said. "Voters of Bihar have taken a resolve that they won't let those who have a history of making the state 'Bimaru' come near them," he added.
'Unlike past governments, we never protect or save criminals.'
'If Nitish Kumar is given more seats, then no one can stop the NDA from losing, even the BJP will be wiped out.'
It is now a different time in Bihar. It is a different place -- one in which Raghuvansh Prasad Singh's options are very limited, notes Aditi Phadnis.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Friday urged top opposition leaders to rise above political compulsions to take on the BJP in the interest of the nation and start planning "systematically" to realise the "ultimate goal" of winning the 2024 Lok Sabha polls
Nitish 'sent his emissary, Prashant Kishor, to me on five different occasions.' 'Kishor seemed to indicate that if I were to assure in writing my party's support to the JD-U, the latter would pull out of the BJP alliance and rejoin the Mahagathbandhan.' A revealing excerpt from Lalu Prasad Yadav's Gopalganj To Raisina: My Political Journey.
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.
The accent on 'making the south feel wanted' was the reason why P Muralidhar Rao, who was dropped as general secretary, was partially reinstated in the central apparatus as prabhari in charge of Madhya Pradesh. 'Pressure from the RSS was brought to bear on Rao's return,' a source said. Radhika Ramaseshan reports.
Addressing the party workers and people of Bihar through a virtual rally, he attacked the opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal saying the growth rate of the state was just 3.9 per cent when the party was in power, but it rose to 11.3 per cent under the NDA.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Kumar on being sworn in as the chief minister.
Ram Jethmalani passed away a few days before his 96th birthday on September 14.
The Congress expressed its 'whole-hearted' support to the 'Bharat bandh' called by farmer unions against the new agri-marketing laws and announced that it will hold protests that day at all district and state headquarters in solidarity with the demands of the farmers. TRS president and Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao said the party rank and file would actively participate in the bandh to ensure it was a success.
There is a conspiracy to get Lalu murdered, but we will give a befitting reply to the centre, said Tej Pratap.
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.
'It must be kept in mind that the LJP has never been a fan of Nitish Kumar's style of politics. He has harmed the Dalits by creating a sub-group of Mahadalits for his own political gains'
It is likely that the party's allies in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, two of the five states going to the polls in April-May, might insist on allocating fewer seats than they did in 2016, reports Archis Mohan.
'This is the first time since Independence that we are facing such a despairing situation.'
Rashtriya Janata Dal President Lalu Prasad, touring the Pataliputra constituency has hit out strongly at his former close aide Ramkripal Yadav for joining the Bharatiya Janata Party. Prasad held a public rally at Bikram, 40 km southwest of capital Patna, late on Wednesday evening to garner support for the RJD candidate and her eldest daughter Misa Bharti.
Union ministers fanned out across the country to highlight the crackdown on black money to mark the first anniversary of demonetisation on Wednesday which the Bharatiya Janata Party celebrated as "Anti Black Money Day" while the Congress-led Opposition observed it as "Black Day" with street protests.
RJD chief Lalu Prasad and other leaders claimed the countdown for the ouster of the BJP and its allies from power in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls had begun.
'Both Pavan Varma and Prashant Kishor questioned the party president in a public forum.' 'That is why we had to show them the door.'
Many eyebrows were raised in Bihar on Monday as news broke of a meeting between Communist Party of India's rising star Kanhaiya Kumar and Ashok Choudhary, a minister and key aide of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
Opposition attacked the government, saying prohibition law was being used to target Dalits.
Stalin, like his father M Karunanidhi did in 2004, may play the king-maker in a way -- not the king, unless the 2024 post-poll circumstances throws up a situation where he alone becomes acceptable to the rest, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Arch-rivals Left and Trinamool, SP and BSP come together for Sonia's lunch
Terming Modi as a 'chela' (disciple) of Bharatiya Janata Party veteran Lal Krishna Advani, Rashtriya Janata Dal president Lalu Prasad on Saturday vowed to stop him like he had stopped Advani during his rath yatra in 1990.
The days of the Nitish Kumar government in Bihar were numbered, Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday said, claiming that more than 50 Janata Dal-United MLAs were in touch with the party and worked for its candidates in the Lok Sabha polls, triggering an angry reaction from the ruling party.
Polling for three parliamentary seats and 29 assembly constituencies were held on October 30, an exercise being seen as a barometer of the political mood in the country ahead of assembly elections in politically critical Uttar Pradesh as well as other states.
Rahul Gandhi on Saturday did some plain speaking as he slammed infighting among Congress leaders and asked them to maintain unity during his first meeting with state leaders after being formally assigned to lead the party's campaign for Lok Sabha polls.
Mohammad Shahabuddin, in prison for over a decade, still inspires fear, a reminder of the 'jungle raj' when political murders were commonplace in Bihar.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Thursday made his prime ministerial ambitions known, saying he is more qualified and experienced than those "roaming around" for the top job.
The BJP on Thursday lent its support to the chief minister even as both houses of Bihar legislature recognised JD-U as their principal opposition party.
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 BJP-led NDA leaders have attacked RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav for his statement that Bihar assembly polls is a fight between 'backward versus forward' forces.
Owaisi's five seats in Bihar's Muslim-majority Seemanchal region ought to ring alarm bells, observes Virendra Kapoor.
Kumar was speaking to media persons at Patna airport on his arrival from New Delhi.
Kumar's comments at the party's national executive meeting came amid a strain in his ties with the Bharatiya Janata Party and appears to be a message to his ally, some of whose leaders have been linked to alleged communal tensions and violence in the state.
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