'For two months, Jitan Ram Manjhi kept a low profile. Once he was put in a place of power even though he had not acquired it himself, he thought he deserved it. He thought he must promote his own political career. Secondly, all those who were opposed to Nitish Kumar, either within the party or outside, started supporting him,' says Professor Prabhat Ghosh, director of the Asian Development Research Institute in Patna.
In no mood to back down on the issue of jurisdiction over appointments, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is reaching out to non-BJP chief ministers to mount political pressure on the Modi government even as the matter reached court.
Official celebrations in most states were restricted to unfurling of the national flag and chief ministers and governors addressing the people, with fewer guests in attendance.
'Embedded with the divisive regime, they administer heavy doses of the opium of religion and nationalism day in and day out,' observes Mohammad Sajjad.
Meanwhile, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said the state governments have been asked to identify Rohingya refugees in their regions and collect their biometric details.
It is a blessing that Prime Minister Narendra Modi "spends some time in the country also", Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said on Wednesday.
Addressing the Inter-State Council meeting, convened after a gap of 10 years, the Prime Minister told the chief ministers that "we should focus on how we can make our country prepared to counter challenges to our internal security".
In New Delhi, state Congress president Anil Kumar and party workers were detained by police at a petrol pump near Parmanand hospital.
An upset Nitish Kumar on Thursday made it clear that north Indians, particularly Biharis, do not need a certificate from anybody on being law abiding. He was reacting to Delhi's Lt Governor Tejender Khanna remarks that north Indians take "pride in violating the law".
Modi said "timing" is very important to deal with any crisis and "decisions taken at the right time have helped a lot in controlling the coronavirus infection in the country".
70-plus years after Independence, 'Hindu India, metamorphosised as 'Hindutva India', is proving the British right -- and for all the wrong reasons. Mohan Bhagwat should have answers for the why of it, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Ajit Pawar said that industry had 'lost its soul' in Pran's death.
In his weekly column 'Rokhthok' in Sena mouthpiece Saamana, Raut questionned the sudden rise of 'Mahatma' Sood on the social scene of Maharashtra during the lockdown. Raut also referred to a 'sting operation' against Sood ahead of the 2019 general elections, saying he had agreed to promote the BJP-led government at various platforms through his official social media accounts.
Reddy alone will take oath on Thursday while his Council of Ministers is likely to be constituted on June 7, party sources said.
Noble laureate Amartya Sen was appointed chancellor of the upcoming Nalanda University by the board of governors in a meeting in Patna on Thursday, officials said.
Singh said that children who study in missionary schools lack "sanskaar".
The first phase, polling for which will take place on February 3, will cover the entire 90 seats in Haryana, 64 of the 243 seats in Bihar and 24 of the 81 seats in Jharkhand.
'By resorting to divisive issues, the BJP is giving the impression that even if it is voted to power it won't do anything new to give Bihar a facelift. It will repel voters with the belief that the BJP can't do anything without communal polarisation as its core ideology. This is sad and unfortunate,' says Mohammad Sajjad.
Secularism as a principle and practice in India is in "danger", but "forces of hatred" cannot alter the country's secular character, senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor said during an interview on his new book 'The Battle of Belonging'. In the book, Tharoor makes a stinging critique of the Hindutva doctrine, asserting that it is a political doctrine, not a religious one.
Arvind Kejriwal ji, let me give you an uncalled-for friendly advice. Governance is serious business, please keep it in mind."
'Our priority will be to settle land disputes in Bihar, which I believe is the root cause of almost all crime in the state.'
As the political drama unfolds in Bihar, Janata Dal-United chief Sharad Yadav on Monday said the decision of Nitish Kumar to quit as Chief Minister is 'final'.
Sounding confident of winning the trust vote on February 20, Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi said he would enter the ring as a "wrestler" without bothering about his win or loss.
Around 52.46 per cent of the patients have recovered, the health ministry said. The number of active cases stood at 1,53,178 while 1,80,012 patients have recovered, it said in the daily COVID-19 update.
To snatch a state government out of Congress hands is therefore a high-stakes game with national political implications, for it denies the party the essential fuel to run effective election campaigns, notes T N Ninan.
The Janata Dal-United will elect a new leader on Sunday, party chief Sharad Yadav said, a day after Nitish Kumar stepped down as the Bihar chief minister.
Centre has told the Supreme Court that it will soon make public Bihar governor Buta's reports which led to the dissolution of the assembly in the state.
He said Verma can be asked 'to go' only if she is found to have facilitated any wrongdoing and not because of some 'noises'.
If the Ladakh episode has ended, this is the time to find the truth about all the aspects of it and inform the nation and the world, the time is here and now, advises Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
Adityanath also recommended that all other SBSP members holding the rank of minister of state be removed immediately.
Claiming that Parliament, by approving extension of President's rule in Bihar, had also approved the Assembly dissolution, Governor Buta Singh on Friday sought a public apology from the NDA for levelling false charges against him.
'For Modi and Shah, the humiliating setback is bigger than the electoral defeats in New Delhi and in Bihar in 2015.'
Opposition leaders believe this entire plan has been put in place to ensure that Mamata Banerjee is kept out of office in West Bengal.
Advani has said the PM should step down on moral grounds.
The RSS wants BJP to field a 'swayamsevak', while the Opposition has mulled fielding former West Bengal governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi.
With his order that identity cards will be compulsory for all in Delhi from January 15 kicking off a storm among migrants and in states like Bihar, Delhi lieutenant governor Tejender Khanna on Monday clarified that the order did not make ID cards mandatory.
The TMC expects to emerge victorious by way of a majority of minority votes and a minority of majority votes, notes Arun Bhatnagar, a retired IAS officer.
National Democratic Alliance alleged that the governor had resorted to the dictatorial step to prevent alliance Nitish Kumar from forming a government.
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