'We have 38 Dalits who are MLAs and ministers. But that does not mean the Dalits of Bihar are prospering.'
"It is high time India traded dynasty for meritocracy. This would require fundamental reforms, from imposing legally mandated term limits to requiring meaningful internal party elections, together with a concerted effort to educate and empower the electorate to choose leaders based on merit," Tharoor said.
'The seats which we would be contesting have been identified. Respective candidates have also been finalised. Four non-performing sitting MLAs will be replaced with fresh faces.'
Senior BJP leaders, including Amit Shah and J P Nadda, met with party leaders and allies to discuss the upcoming Bihar polls. Seat-sharing arrangements with NDA partners are expected to be announced soon.
With all rituals connected to veteran Dalit leader's death ending Tuesday, Chirag is all set to hit the political campaign now.
Prashant Kishor's Jan Suraaj Party reiterated its promise to scrap the liquor ban in Bihar if elected, planning to use the revenue to secure loans from international financial institutions.
Paswan also said that BJP leaders were free to throw barbs at the LJP, as part of their "coalition dharma", but he would always hold Prime Minister Narendra Modi in high regard.
Lok Janshakti Party president Ram Vilas Paswan on Friday said that the President's rule in Jharkhand was a temporary solution and elections were the only way out if no party or combination was able to form a government soon.
Paswan was a minister under six different prime ministers, hardly out of government since he was first elected to the Lok Sabha in 1977, observes Virendra Kapoor.
Smaller allies of the ruling NDA in Bihar, including HAM and RLM, have expressed resentment over the seat-sharing arrangements announced for the upcoming assembly elections, raising concerns about the alliance's unity.
Call it political opportunism or sagacity, his moves, in effect, have not allowed the Bharatiya Janata Party to appoint its own chief minister to date, despite enjoying a near hegemonic status nationally and the best performance in recently held assembly polls where the saffron party bagged 89 seats, followed by the Janata Dal-United with 85.
In separate letters to Chirag Paswan and Pashupati Paras, the poll panel said it has allotted the name 'Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas)' and the election symbol 'Helicopter' to the Chirag Paswan group.
The LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan made the announcement ahead of his meeting with Congress chief Sonia Gandhi.
Amid indications of unease between his party and RJD, LJP president Ram Vilas Paswan on Wednesday met Congress chief Sonia Gandhi to urge her to take the lead in finalising the alliance in Bihar as "clarity" was required on seat-sharing among the allies.
A directional landmine blast took place at Baroa, 17 km from Salboni, from where the West Bengal CM, Paswan, state industry minister Nirupam Sen and industrialist Sajjan Jindal were returning after laying the foundation stone of Jindal Steel Works plant, police said.
Acrimonious scenes were on Monday witnessed in the Rajya Sabha as members from the Bharatiya Janata Party, Lok Janshakti Party and Nationalist Congress Party clashed over the issue of reported low Muslim representation in admissions to private schools in Delhi. The sharp exchanges during Zero Hour also led to a heated argument between Ram Vilas Paswan, who raised the issue and BJP members, who alleged that Paswan was casting aspersions on P J Kurien (in the Chair).
Modi will accompany on July 25 from Rashtrapati Bhavan to 12 Janpath as a courtesy.
The party is likely to take a decision in a couple of days, with the nomination for the first phase of three phase-polls set to begin from October 1, they said.
Paswan demanded the imposition of President's Rule in the state followed by fresh elections.
The Congress claimed that dynastic politics exists across party lines and also hailed the Nehru-Gandhi family's leadership.
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.
Lok Janshakti Party leader Ram Vilas Paswan on Thursday said the creamy layer should not be excluded from reservation benefits while Congress leader Digvijay Singh said Parliament was supreme in policy issues.
The Centre subsidises the cost of fertilisers as there is a huge gap between selling price and production cost. After receiving Rs 31.83 crore (Rs 318.3 million) as dividend from National Fertilizers Ltd, Chemicals and Fertiliser Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said the fertiliser subsidies would be only in cash, and assured manufacturers that there would not be any problems for them.
Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers and Steel Ram Vilas Paswan on Tuesday released a new policy on Petroleum, Chemicals and Petrochemical Investment Regions.
'This election was won because of Nitish Kumar's face and his policies.'
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 government on Friday said a new pharmaceutical policy would be announced shortly based on the recommendations of the Pronab Sen Task Force.
Govt has given the medicine price regulating body a freedom to control prices of medicines.
Paswan said the committee will not interact with the Janata Dal (United) till it severed ties with the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance.
President Pranab Mukherjee hosted the season's first big Iftar party at Rashtrapati Bhawan on Monday evening, but conspicuously absent was Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and the event was in turn attended by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Minorities Affairs Minister Najma Heptullah with Union Minister and Lok Janashakti Party leader Ram Vilas Paswan. Renu Mittal reports
Chemicals and Fertiliser Minister Ram Vilas Paswan on Saturday ruled out divestment of loss-making Hindustan Antibiotics Ltd saying the government would revive the ailing public sector unit.
One is a budding cricketer and the other is a wannabe actor, but politics is what they have in common. Tejaswi Yadav, a cricketer, is better known as the son of Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad's son. Chirag Paswan, who is looking for a break in Bollywood, is the son of Lok Janshakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan.
Here's what your favourite Bollywood celebrities are tweeting.
Having struck a seat-sharing deal, leaders of the Janata Dal-United and the Bharatiya Janata Party sat across the table in Patna on Monday to thrash out, among other things, constituencies they planned to swap or give up in favour of smaller allies in Bihar.
"The JD-U and BJP are engaging in shadow boxing. There appears to be an agreement between BJP and JD-U that they would play Hindu and Muslim cards, respectively, to confuse voters," Paswan said while commenting on the recent tiff between the two ruling coalition partners of Bihar.
The Union Minister for Chemicals, Fertilisers and Steel Ram Vilas Paswan on Monday said from April 1 onwards, the prices of drugs would include local taxes.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's JD(U) expelled 16 leaders, including a sitting MLA and two former ministers, for anti-party activities ahead of the assembly elections. The expelled leaders were charged with violating the party's ideology and working against official NDA candidates.
Union Steel Minister Ram Vilas Paswan on Tuesday announced the decision to merge the ailing steel plant with the Steel Authority of India Ltd and said the proposal would now be taken to the Union Cabinet for formal approval.
Chemicals and Fertiliser Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said on Thursday that the Union government will introduce maximum retail price-based pricing regime for medicines
Apparently angry over the delay in finalisation of seats among United Progressive Alliance allies in Bihar, Lok Janshakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan on Saturday stepped up pressure on the Rashtriya Janata Dal, threatening to go it alone if an alliance does not happen soon. "I have directed my party workers to be ready to contest on all 40 seats in Bihar as the alliance talks do not appear to have fructified till now," said Paswan.
