Even as Narendra Modi began his hectic day of campaigning in poll-bound Bihar, Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav was the first to fire a salvo on Thursday when he dared the prime minister to break his silence on reservation for Dalits and Other Backward Classes.
Yadav, who has been by his ailing father's side for the past few days, expressed delight that both Prasad and Rohini Acharya, his elder sister who has donated one of her kidneys to the 74-year-old, were fine after the surgery.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar launched a scathing attack on his predecessor Rabri Devi, calling her appointment as Chief Minister "suspension-induced" during a heated debate in the state legislative council. The verbal sparring, marked by accusations and counter-accusations on law and order, saw Kumar accusing the RJD of being unable to handle Hindu-Muslim tensions and engaging in "mischief." Rabri Devi, in response, asserted her right to speak about her achievements during her tenure as Chief Minister. Kumar, however, retorted with a sharp, local phrase, dismissing Rabri Devi's claims. The exchange, which saw both sides engage in mudslinging, ended with the Chairman admonishing the opposition for their unruly behavior.
Their leader is now Lalu Prasad Yadav, a convict in several corruption cases, he added.
The former Bihar chief minister has seven criminal cases against him, most of them related to cheating and forgery. Vicky Nanjappa reports
Government has rejected former railway minister Lalu Prasad's request for further extension of his stay at the official bungalow at Tughlaq Road in Lutyen's zone in New Delhi.
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.
He claimed that Tej Pratap kept egging on his henchmen while Ramraj was being humiliated and that he even got the entire episode videographed.
Intensifying its attack against Union Railway Minister and RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav for his proposed chetawani rally against Bihar's National Democratic Alliance government, the ruling Janata Dal United asked him to explain the rationale behind the protest rally. "You tell us why you are so furious and organising the chetawani rally when we are making all efforts to achieve all-round growth of the state," JD-U national spokesman Shivanand Tiwari said in Patna.
The RJD chief is on a three-day parole to attend his elder son Tej Pratap Yadav's marriage in Patna on Saturday.
Former Railway Minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav on Wednesday blamed railway officials for the mishap involving the Dibrugarh-bound Rajdhani Express that left four passengers dead.
A confrontation over the issue of the Women's Reservation Bill appeared imminent in Parliament with Government planning to take it up next week, triggering a sharp reaction by its detractors Mulayam Singh Yadav and Lalu Prasad with the latter threatening "war".
Lalu said that the BJP at the Centre is trying to destabilise the grand alliance government in Bihar. M I Khan reports from Patna.
'After the 2020 Bihar assembly polls when our party got only 43 seats and our ally the BJP got 73 seats, Nitish Kumar refused to become chief minister and assured the BJP that he will support the government led by anyone.' 'But the BJP's top leaders told Nitish Kumar that as the NDA contested the polls under his leadership, the next government will be headed by him.'
'Rahul is not even a lamp before the sun'
The searches are also being conducted at the premises of the son of RJD MP P C Gupta and few other businessmen.
Subhash Yadav and Sadhu Yadav, who were powerful faces during the 15-year Lalu-Rabri rule, are now working towards ensuring that Rashtriya Janata Dal chief and his sons face defeat in the forthcoming Bihar elections.
Yadav claimed that his boss Nitish Kumar, with whom he took oath the day before, has issued instructions to the officials concerned to accord "top priority" to job creation.
It's official now. After a gap of 23 years, Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav and senior Janata Dal-United leader Nitish Kumar will share dais and jointly address public meetings on Monday for by polls in Bihar's Hajipur and Mohiuddinnagar assembly constituencies.
The sources said the opposition leaders would now plan joint rallies that were put on hold due to the assembly elections.
Accusing the BJP of trying to poach TMC MLAs by attempting to bribe them, Banerjee, without naming anyone, said some people are acting as fence-sitters who are under the illusion that the saffron party might come to power in the state.
Lalu landed in a soup after a news channel expose about a purported conversation with murder convict Mohammad Shahabuddin.
With Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray targeting some Members of Parliament from Bihar, including Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, in an editorial in party mouthpiece Saamana, Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee on Wednesday said that such references amounted to contempt of the House.
Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Sunday said that the Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar who at a point was fighting against 'jungle raj' (lawlessness) in Bihar, is now sitting in the lap of Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav and aiding it.
Former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, lodged in the Birsa Munda Central Jail after his conviction in the fodder scam case on Monday, will hear the arguments on the quantum of sentence and the punishment on October 3 in the jail through videoconferencing.
Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav on Friday claimed that Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had 'begged for forgiveness for past betrayals' before his parents, party supremo Lalu Prasad and ex-CM Rabri Devi, before they allied with the Janata Dal-United president in 2022.
The ruling National Democratic Alliance in Bihar on Monday sparred with the opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal over items allegedly stolen from a government bungalow recently vacated by Tejashwi Yadav, to whom it was allotted while he was the state's deputy chief minister.
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.
The party was reacting to Kumar's decision to resign as Bihar chief minister and leaving the Mahagathbandhan alliance in the state and also dealing a body blow to the opposition bloc INDIA.
Attacking Narendra Modi, Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav on Tuesday said that "even a butcher is shy" of the BJP leader who was aiming to become the Prime Minister of the country.
Yadav was earlier called for questioning on March 4 but he had not appeared before the CBI sleuths, following which a fresh date was given for Saturday, they said.
'So far we were fighting human beings. Now a shaitan has entered a human body which is after us.'
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said he wants the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance to win 400 seats in the ongoing Lok Sabha polls to ensure the Congress does not bring back Article 370 in Kashmir and put a 'Babri lock' on the Ram temple in Ayodhya.
Sinha posted a photograph of the meet on Twitter with a caption, 'Meeting openly.... and boldly'.
Manjhi's political journey took a dramatic turn when, in 2014, he was unexpectedly anointed Chief Minister by Nitish Kumar, who had resigned after a disastrous Lok Sabha election.
Lalu Prasad's son and Bihar Health Minister Tej Pratap Yadav on Tuesday threatened a journalist of a national English news channel in full public glare saying he would sue him if he does not delete a video (of the minister) he had filmed.
Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Rabri Devi said Chief Minister Nitish Kumar does not have the strength to stop Narendra Modi from coming to Bihar, the way her husband Lalu Prasad Yadav had stopped L K Advani during his rath yatra in 1990.
The TMC chief, however, parried questions on her reservations about the Congress's alliance with the Left in her state and the Aam Aadmi Party threatening a "walkout" if support was not forthcoming on the ordinance of control of services in Delhi.
Lalu handled the obstacle of 'departmentalism' with ease.