The ruling Mahayuti is poised to retain power in Maharashtra with the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) also putting up a strong show in assembly polls, most exit polls predicted on Wednesday after conclusion of polling on 288 seats in the state. Jharkhand is likely to see a change of government with BJP-led National Democratic Alliance coming to power in the state, three exit polls said on Wednesday with one poll giving majority to the ruling JMM-led alliance.
Lalu said that the BJP at the Centre is trying to destabilise the grand alliance government in Bihar. M I Khan reports from Patna.
National Democratic Alliance Convenor Sharad Yadav, SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, BSP member Dara Singh Chauhan and RJD leader Lalu Prasad claimed that the inclusion of caste in census at the biometric stage amounted to befooling the people.
In the morning, he offered prayers at the Dashashwamedh Ghat and the Kaal Bhairav temple in Varanasi.
RJD MLA Raj Ballabh Yadav, who has been accused of raping a minor, was on Sunday suspended from the party. M I Khan/ Rediff.com reports from Patna.
With assembly polls due in Bihar later this year, political parties have gone on an offensive to woo different caste and community groups in the state.
The Janata Dal-United-Rashtriya Janata Dal-Congress government will face a confidence vote in the Bihar assembly on Wednesday, August 24, next, and it is quite likely that the BJP will do all it can to defeat the trust vote.
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The chief minister's presence at the RJD Iftar at Lalu's home on Friday instantly sparked speculation about Nitish getting closer to the RJD after reports circulated of his ally the Bharatiya Janata Party wanting to replace the Janata Dal-United supremo as CM with one of its own.
'The long term strategy is that this government wants to create a second class citizen list.'
MNS members assaulted SM MLA Abu Azmi over taking the oath in Hindi.
A day after Shashi Tharoor's exit from the Union Cabinet, the Left parties on Monday demanded that the Indian Premier League be banned and constitution of a Joint Parliamentary Committee to probe the source of funds.
Issues and personality may not play as big a part as the caste of the candidate in Bihar's 7 parliamentary constituencies that go to the polls on Thursday.
The BJP blames Nitish's PM ambition for his decision to walk out of the NDA.
The Delhi high court on Friday sought a response from the Centre, Election Commission of India, and 26 political parties on a petition seeking to restrain opposition parties from using the acronym INDIA for their alliance.
The Supreme Court has dismissed a petition challenging the appointment of Nitish Kumar as chief minister of Bihar after his party forged a new alliance in August, saying post-poll alignments subject to certain conditions is permissible under the anti-defection law.
Old-timers seem not impressed with the idea of dropping from the RJD poster its jailed supremo who is acknowledged, across party lines, as the biggest crowd puller ever seen in Bihar's poitical arena.
Top leaders of the Opposition's Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) held talks in an informal setting in Mumbai on Thursday evening to chart out a concrete roadmap and evolve a structure for cooperation among the alliance partners to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
According to the sources, the meeting will be held at 10 am on Thursday in the chamber of Rajya Sabha LoP.
The 17-year-old alliance between Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal-United and the Bharatiya Janaya Party is over. Here is how political parties reacted to the break up.
As per a letter sent to the MLAs by the assembly secretariat, the chief minister has expressed his willingness to move a motion of confidence to prove his majority.
Be it the ruling Janata Dal-United or Bharatiya Janata Party, or the opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal, Lok Janshakti Party and Congress, election time in Bihar proves that blood is thicker than water when it comes to issuing tickets to the kin of politicians.
JD(U) candidate Kavita Singh defeated her nearest RJD candidate Parmeshwar Singh by 20,092 votes.
The Bharatiya Janata Party accused the Congress-led regime of using the Central Bureau of Investigation as a "Damocles' sword" against vulnerable opposition leaders.
It is impossible to say when would these leaders stab each other for political gains," it said.
RJD-JD-U leaders believe Dhirendra Krishna Shastri's visit is part of the BJP's 2024 poll strategy.
'It does not understand economics. The entire focus of this government is skewed.'
A poll conducted by Centre for the Study of Developing Societies shows Mamata Banerjee will win in Bengal and Nitish Kumar is likely to hold on in Bihar despite the split with BJP, if elections were to be held today
Bihar assembly Speaker Awadh Bihari Chaudhary, against whom the newly formed National Democratic Alliance government has moved a no-confidence motion, on Wednesday dug in his heels.
Two empty chairs -- one each for jailed Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal former and former Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren -- were kept on stage as the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) organised a mega rally in Ranchi on Ranchi.
Amid speculation that he may do yet another volte face and return to the National Democratic Alliance, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Saturday visited Buxar district, bordering Uttar Pradesh, to attend a function where senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader and Union Minister Ashwani Kumar Choubey was also present.
When the House reassembled at noon after the first adjournment, members of Samajwadi Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Janata Dal-United and Lok Janshakti Party rushed menacingly to the well shouting 'marshal bulao' (call the marshals), prompting Speaker Meira Kumar to immediately adjourn the House till 1400 hours.
The opposition leaders are expected to meet at Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge's office in the Parliament complex around 10 am, sources said.
The announcement comes a day after the opposition's Mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) allotted just one seat to the Left parties in Bihar.
Parliament on Thursday passed a bill that seeks to expand the definition of "terrorist act" to include offences that threaten the country's economic security amid a walkout by Left parties, Janata Dal-United and Rashtriya Janata Dal.
Lok Janshakti Party supremo Ram Vilas Paswan and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Rajeev Pratap Rudy on Thursday won their respective Rajya Sabha seats from Bihar.It has been reported that the BJP and its partner Janata Dal -United are optimistic about winning three seats, while the Rashtriya Janata Dal and LJP appear confident of winning both the seats they are contesting.The RJD-LJP alliance has the support of 68 MLAs, against the requirement of 76.
Grand alliance leaders accuse their rivals of having engineered electoral tactics to confuse its voters.
BJP state president Mangal Pandey said that Sunil Kumar and Renu Kushwaha have joined the party and RJD MLA Braj Kishore Singh has joined the party.
In a strongly worded statement, Kumar deplored the journalist-turned-politician's participation in a function where "even your Chairman, the Honourable Vice President, was not present".
Ahead of senior BJP leader Narendra D Modi's election rally in Karakat on May 25 to support National Democratic Alliance candidate Upendar Kushwaha, the BJP finally acted against Pawan Singh, who refused to withdraw from the fray.
