The Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday welcomed the conviction of Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav in the fodder scam case by a special CBI court in Ranchi while the Congress said that the law had taken its course.
'Nitish Kumar may be marginalised as an office-holder, but that is not the same thing as the disappearance of Nitish Kumar's politics.'
A full Bench comprising Justice R N Prasad, Justice Barin Ghosh and Justice M L Visa unanimously dismissed the petition.
'We have been struggling with problems, but we want to elect Tejashwi to see him as the next chief minister.'
Arvind Kejriwal warned the media that "very big forces" would try and break the INDIA alliance by showing that there was a lot of acrimony among them.
'I want to ask the entire nation and the opposition. Can a Chief Minister, Prime Minister, or any leader run the country from jail?'
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Friday termed his past alliances with arch rival Lalu Prasad Yadav's Rashtriya Janata Dal as a 'mistake' that he committed twice but was determined not to repeat again.
The high-profile Lok Sabha member from Gopalganj, brother-in-law of Railway Minister and RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, surrendered before the in-charge Vigilance Judge Munilal Paswan in the case, an off-shoot of the multi-crore flood relief scam.
He also met Gandhi's political secretary Ahmed Patel.
Amidst speculation over the NDA seat-sharing deal in Bihar, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar distributed JD(U) tickets, while the BJP announced its first list of candidates. The INDIA bloc also faces internal challenges as parties prepare for the upcoming elections.
Shah pulled no punches in lambasting the RJD supremo for alleged nepotism, accusing him of making his wife the chief minister, getting his daughter elected to Parliament and "now both his sons want to become the CM".
Lalu is accused in five of the 39 cases related to the scam.
'We will be happy if Nitishji becomes convenor of INDIA.'
Gangster-turned-politician Dular Chand Yadav, once known for rubbing shoulders with the who's who of politics in Bihar, was allegedly shot dead near the state capital during an election campaign on Thursday, police said.
The CBI has already filed a charge sheet in the case against Prasad, Rabri Devi and 14 others under charges of criminal conspiracy and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, in which all the accused have been summoned on March 15, they said.
Rashtriya Janata Dal supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav has termed Wednesday's landslide victory of the National Democratic Alliance in the Bihar assembly polls as mysterious and also said that his party will review their defeat.
The vigilance officials submitted the chargesheet in the court of special vigilance judge Ramnivas Prasad, bureau's Additional Director-General Neelmani said.
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.
On the efforts for a complete alliance among the United Progressive Alliance partners in Bihar, Lalu said there was no UPA in Bihar.
Similar permission had earlier been granted to the railway minister to visit Pakistan as a member of a delegation and also to attend the funeral of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. \n
"There is neither any confrontation [with Lalu] nor any understanding [for the October assembly polls]," he told reporters in New Delhi.
It was not immediately known what transpired at the meeting which came days after a special Central Bureau of Investigation court framed charges against him.
Lalu, who was in Ranchi to address the 'Chetna' rally organised by his party -- the Rashtriya Janata Dal -- made the comment when he was asked by newspersons about the alleged anti-north India statements by leaders of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena.
Bihar being in the grip of a Dusshera festival mood, leaders of rival political groups including Rashtriya Janata Dal supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav on Tuesday used examples of slaying of Ravana to attack each other.
A supporter of former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad collapsed and died after hearing that a court jailed him for five years while another supporter is on fast since Monday after the Rashtriya Janata Dal supremo was convicted in the fodder scam.
Shopkeepers of Raja Bazaar, Sheikhpura and Ashina Nagar localities complained that Krishna Yadav and his men harassed them for money.
An RJD leader said that the two brothers came together at the insistence of Misa Bharti, who made them sit together and explained that by fighting each other they will end up falling into the trap of the BJP-led NDA, which wants to "finish off the party.
Over 50 people, mostly pilgrims returning from Ayodhya, were burnt alive in two bogies of Sabarmati Express in Godhra in February 2002.
Holding Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav responsible for sidelining Maharashtrians in railway jobs, the Shiv Sena on Monday said this was occurring because the Rashtriya Janata Dal chief has a 'serpent's grip' on the Railways.
The 'Mahagathbandhan' alliance in Bihar is expected to finalize its seat-sharing arrangement and announce candidates along with a joint manifesto soon. Talks between RJD and Congress are ongoing, with potential meetings in Delhi. The Congress is aiming for a respectable number of seats and highlighting the desire for change in Bihar.
Rashtriya Janata Dal supremo and former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad Yadav on Thursday said that only Shatrughan Sinha and Shahnawaz Hussain are secular leaders in the Bharatiya Janata Party.
'Even if the anti-Modi 'Mahagatbandhan' gets a majority there is simply no way that Nitish Kumar can ensure even a stable government, leave alone a good -- clean, development-oriented -- government,' argues T V R Shenoy.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday sprang surprises with its first list of 71 candidates for the Bihar assembly polls, denying a ticket to Speaker Nand Kishore Yadav, a seven-term MLA, while fielding Deputy CM Samrat Choudhary in a direct election after over a decade.
Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, in jail following his conviction in the fodder scam, moved the Jharkhand high court on Thursday against the Central Bureau of Investigation court's judgement which found him guilty.
The agency is probing members of the Lalu Prasad family and others under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
