Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Saturday hinted that a meeting of opposition leaders may take place in Patna after the crucial Karnataka assembly polls were over as many would be busy electioneering there.
Nitish Kumar, once seen as a potential rival to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, broke ranks with the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance coalition on Tuesday to stake claim as head of the rival 'Mahagathbandhan' (Grand Alliance) to be the chief minister of Bihar for the eighth time.
Days after their landslide victory in Bihar assembly polls, Grand Alliance leaders, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Rashtriya Janata Dal supremo Lalu Prasad, are celebrating Chhath festival at their residences.
Yadav was given notice to appear for questioning on Tuesday after he did not do so on March 4 and March 11, they said.
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Monday agreed to be questioned on Times Now's Frankly Speaking host Arnab Goswami on his first-ever formal television interview.
Never a leader with a big base of his own, Sharad Yadav depended on state bigwigs like Lalu and Nitish to enter Parliament but enjoyed the aura and political weight which made him a strong presence at the high table of national politics in Delhi.
Bihar assembly Speaker Awadh Bihari Chaudhary on Sunday called on Rashtriya Janata Dal president Lalu Prasad Yadav, at a time when the state was witnessing a big political churn.
Trinamool Congress MP Derek O'Brien said the situation in Bihar is one of the reasons behind the Parliament session being cut short by the government.
Seeking to play down Narendra Modi's remark that caste leaders had pushed Bihar into economic backwardness, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday said the Gujarat chief minister had referred to previous governments including the Rashtriya Janata Dal regime and not to the current National Democratic Alliance dispensation.
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".
Modi will start his Sunday election tour with a rally in Chapra, the political bastion of Rashtriya Janata Dal supremo Lalu Prasad. As per the itinerary, from Chapra he will go to Samastipur to address a public meeting in Housing Board ground, then at Gandhi maidan in Motihari and will end the campaign trip with a rally in Bagaha.
The former Bihar Chief Minister was sentenced to five years in prison and slapped a fine of Rs 60 lakh by a special CBI court in Ranchi in connection with the fifth fodder scam case involving embezzlement of over Rs 139 crore by Doranda treasury.
Setting aside their bitterness, both within and outside Parliament, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi shook hands at a function to felicitate NCP supremo Sharad Pawar, who turned 75 on Thursday.
Rabri Devi, the former Bihar chief minister, is looking for 'good looking' and 'homely bahus' for her minister sons -- Tej Pratap Yadav and Tejaswi Prasad Yadav.
Notably, both the meetings were presided over by Prasad's elder son Tej Pratap Yadav, who was sworn in as a minister earlier this week with environment, forestry and climate change portfolio.
As of now, political advertisements are barred in electronic media, including TV, radio and social media platforms.
Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad slammed Siv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray for criticising Sachin Tendulkar for his 'Mumbai for all' remark, saying the Shiv Sena supremo had no moral authority to comment on a national hero.
Lalu's word is final in the RJD when even when he is serving a long jail sentence after being convicted in fodder scam cases.
The formidable political leader and former union minister was sentenced by a special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court to five years' prison term and slapped with a fine of Rs 60 lakh during the day in connection with the embezzlement of Rs 139 crore from Doranda treasury in the fodder scam.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday hit back at Rashtriya Janata Dal supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav for calling Prime Minister Narendra Modi a non-resident Indian, saying there is no need to take any advice from a person who is outside jail at the moment and challenging his conviction.
Shibu Soren's hopes of making a comeback as Jharkhand chief minister by replacing incumbent Madhu Koda received a boost today with the Rashtriya Janata Dal assuring the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha supremo of its support. Soren said after his meeting with RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav in Delhi that the railway minister had not only promised his party's backing, but also assured him help in securing the support of independents.
Questions are being raised on the future of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) as differences among its constituents come to the fore and several parties call for serious introspection by the Congress after a string of debilitating electoral losses.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday accused Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad and the Congress of helping former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda allegedly amass black money, a charge rubbished as "ridiculous" by the RJD supremo.
Even as the grand old party seeks to promote opposition unity ahead of the hustings next year, Trinamool Congress supremo and West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, however, would be conspicuous by her absence at the event at Sree Kanteerava Stadium.
Union minister Giriraj Singh on Saturday claimed that Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal-United and its ally Rashtriya Janata Dal, founded and headed by Lalu Prasad Yadav, were heading for a merger.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been receiving invitations for functions scheduled much after the Lok Sabha polls, which showed the 'entire world believes his return to power is inevitable'.
State Rashtriya Janata Dal parliamentary board on Sunday approved former Chief Chief Minister Rabri Devi's candidature for the ensuing biennial legislative council polls.
Pitching for larger opposition unity, six constituents of the erstwhile Janata Parivar on Monday shared dais at a mahadharna slamming the Bharatiya Janata Party's 'divisive' politics and accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of telling lies and not fulfilling poll promises on black money.
Leaders of 13 Opposition parties Sunday urged the Centre to launch a free mass vaccination drive across the country in view of the unprecedented surge in COVID-19 cases.
With the Bharatiya Janata Party announcing its first list of candidates for the Lok Sabha elections, the Rashtriya Janata Dal on Saturday took a swipe at senior party leader L K Advani, saying he was anxious to become the Prime Minister."Advani has challenged the foundation of secularism while addressing a party rally in Kanpur on Friday and is fomenting communal passions to capture power," RJD supremo and Railway Minister Lalu Prasad said.
Bihar assembly speaker Uday Narain Choudhary, who is contesting Lok Sabha polls from the Jamui seat, refuted on Friday that he entered into a pact with the Maoists for their support to win the election.
Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad was literally caught napping in the Lok Sabha on Monday. Prasad was seen catching his forty winks while being seated in his allocated first row seat, which is right in front of the Speaker's chair.
Janata Dal-United leader Nitish Kumar, who returns as Bihar chief minister for a record eighth time on Wednesday, is likely to retain the all-important home department, while the Rashtriya Janata Dal may get most of the departments that were previously with the Bharatiya Janata Party, a highly-placed source said.
Taking on the RJD supremo for questioning lack of development in Bihar, Kumar said the NDA government built the roads on which Prasad was travelling to take out his 'Parivartan yatra'.
Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad on Tuesday said he would hand over to President Pratibha Patil on Wednesday a letter withdrawing support to the United Progressive Alliance government, over the issue of the Women's Reservation Bill, while SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav remained non-committal on the issue.
"Lalu Prasad has been sentenced to 5 years imprisonment while a penalty of Rs 60 lakh has also been imposed on him. Apart from Prasad, five years imprisonment each was announced by the Court for five convicts, four years each for 32 convicts and three years each for three convicts," CBI counsel B M P Singh told PTI.
Ahmed Patel, who was undergoing treatment at a Gurugram hospital after testing positive for COVID-19, breathed his last after multi-organ failure in the wee hours of Wednesday, his son Faisal confirmed.
In a bid to fight his way back out of political wilderness, Rashtriya Janata Dal supremo Lalu Prasad on Wednesday addressed his first major rally in Bihar in a decade during which he called Chief Minister Nitish Kumar a "dictator" whose "downfall" has begun and a "parrot" of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the Bharatiya Janata Party.
With uncertainty prevailing over 'Janata Parivar' constituents contesting the Bihar assembly polls as one party, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday asked Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav to convene a meeting of the merger committee to "clear the air".
Over 400 incumbent Lok Sabha members including Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, Lal Krishna Advani and Rajnath Singh have not yet declared their assets and liability details, according to an RTI reply.
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