Amid a buzz that Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar may emerge as the opposition's prime ministerial candidate, his party Janata Dal-United said on Friday if other parties want so, then this is an option.
The 243-member assembly is witnessing a fierce competition for the chief minister's post, and as per current trends, the NDA is comfortably ahead of the Opposition camp.
'BJP has achieved its aim by making him a regional leader dependent on them.'
Startling allegations of backstabbing were made against the Bharatiya Janata Party by MLAs and MPs of the Janata Dal-United on Tuesday at a meeting in Patna after which Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar pulled the plug on the alliance.
The 94 constituencies which are going to poll on November 3 are in 17 districts: West Champaran, East Champaran, Sheohar, Sitamarhi, Madhubani, Darbhanga, Muzaffarpur, Gopalganj, Siwan, Saran, Vaishali, Samastipur, Begusarai, Khagaria, Bhagalpur, Nalanda and Patna.
Hundreds of people are still seen attending the rallies without wearing face masks and pushing and shoving each other for space.
Political strategist-turned-activist Prashant Kishor on Thursday took a fresh jibe at Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, his former mentor, reiterating that the latter may ditch the 'Mahagathbandhan' and return to the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal-United on Friday made a fresh plea to the Narendra Modi government at the Centre for an immediate review of the Agnipath scheme, and assure protesting youngsters that their future will not be adversely affected by the new recruitment policy in the armed forces.
The meeting at Gandhi's 10 Janpath residence was seen as very crucial in forging an Opposition unity with efforts on to reconcile differences between the Congress and some regional parties that have been at loggerheads traditionally.
Defending the liquor ban in Bihar, he said that the state's prohibition policy has benefitted several people and a large number of people have given up drinking alcohol due to his measures.
The TMC also announced it would hold talks with other regional parties in their bid to take on the BJP in the crucial 2024 elections but at the same time denied that it was planning a third front, separate from the Congress-led front.
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.
'The only thing that makes Nitish Kumar acceptable to Biharis, to the Mahagatbandhan allies, is the BJP.'
A crowd of Tejashwi supporters that had gathered outside the 10 Circular Road residence of former chief minister Rabri Devi expecting a victory is thinning now.
Nitish Kumar has again proven that he is a master of the art of changing governments.
Tejashwi has refrained from reacting in public but is understood to have been upset over the frequent outbursts of his elder brother.
Asking the people of Bihar to bring their own government to power, the post made a veiled reference to the alleged high handedness of bureaucracy under the JD(U)-BJP rule but fell shy of a frontal attack on Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, his arch rival, or the near hegemonic saffron party which considers him a bete noire.
'The BJP has the torch and with that same torch, the BJP is trying to light up its house in Bihar.' 'The BJP is trying to burn Nitish Kumar's house with that torch.'
he news reports of the response that Tejaswi has been generating at his election rallies must definitely put a smile on his father's face, observes Asmita Bihari.
If there is unity in the Opposition, it is only about regional parties other than the DMK not wanting Rahul Gandhi or any other Congress leader for prime minister, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
The new chief minister, if from the Congress, will have little or no time for political administration, to ensure that he does not lose the voter's goodwill even before the Lok Sabha polls. He can count only on one thing. That the BJP may not want to upset him too early lest an early failure should become an added problem for the party in all the polls to follow, predicts N Sathiya Moorthy.
The CM was present at the Patna airport to receive body of the LJP founder with whom he spent long time in the politics. The CM and other leaders cutting across party lines paid respect to the septuagenarian leader, who died in Delhi on Thursday, at the airport premises.
Lalu Prasad Yadav's sons have set aside their differences and doing all they can to ensure sister Misa's victory from Pataliputra.
Amid growing concerns over the spurt in COVID-19 cases in China and some other countries, Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said the focus is to ensure that no unknown variant of the virus enters India and at the same time there is no impediment to travelling.
'Shatrughan Sinha's name is in the Congress's probable candidates list.'
Tej Pratap created a flutter a few days back with a tweet that was seen by many as signalling a rift with his younger brother Tejashwi.
'Unke andar will power ki kami hai.'
Empty bottles of liquor were discovered inside the premises of the legislature in dry Bihar, in a fresh embarrassment to the Nitish Kumar government in the state, which has been drawing flak over recent hooch tragedies that have claimed more than 40 lives.
'The Congress has indeed become overly dependent on the RJD.' 'A few Congress leaders have successfully convinced the national leadership about the benefits of maintaining ties with the RJD.'
Like Nitish, Mamata and KCR have prime ministerial ambitions, but, unlike Nitish who has established a rapport with Sonia, both Mamata and KCR are cold towards the Congress president, points out Virendra Kapoor.
Bihar's choppy political waters were on Tuesday astir over the prospects of a meeting between Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and K Chandrasekhar Rao, his Telangana counterpart, both of whom share a passion for building a united front against the Bharatiya Janata Party's hegemony.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal-United said it was the right time to withdraw the general consent to the CBI.
The demand for a fresh caste census has stirred the political atmosphere in Bihar for some time.
The manifesto also vowed to carry out caste-based census in 2020-21.
The CM will either force Tejashwi to resign, or tender a resignation himself to put pressure on the RJD.
It is not unlikely that ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, the BJP government comes up with more imaginative schemes aimed at constituency-building. The party under Modi's leadership has a more modern thinking in such matters unlike its rivals, which are still steeped only in ideology, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
Kumar, whose "national role" has become a matter of much speculation since his break-up with the Bharatiya Janata Party last month, however also sought to rule himself out, for the umpteenth time, of the Prime Ministerial race.
Rai hinted that his daughter might contest the coming assembly polls.
"Leaders like Vajpayee, Advani treated me with respect," the JD-U leader said.
Not quitting, says Tejashwi Yadav. Accuses Prime Minister Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah of 'conspiracy'.
