Ruling National Democratic Allaince is gearing up for a fight to the finish with rivals -- Rashtriya Janata Dal-Lok Janshakti Party combine and Congress -- in 45 assembly constituencies spread over several districts, once considered as RJD pocket boroughs, that go to polls in the second phase on October 24.
The party is likely to take a decision in a couple of days, with the nomination for the first phase of three phase-polls set to begin from October 1, they said.
The LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan made the announcement ahead of his meeting with Congress chief Sonia Gandhi.
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.
'A one-party State is not possible in a diverse country like India.'
The LJP will also be given a Rajya Sabha berth and Paswan is likely to be its candidate.
When the House reassembled at noon after the first adjournment, members of Samajwadi Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Janata Dal-United and Lok Janshakti Party rushed menacingly to the well shouting 'marshal bulao' (call the marshals), prompting Speaker Meira Kumar to immediately adjourn the House till 1400 hours.
While many of them have already switched loyalties, others are waiting for right options before moving out of their zones of discomfort.
A delegation of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Members of Parliament, including some union ministers, on Tuesday met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to demand that an order providing reservation in government jobs be replaced by an Act to bring greater benefits to them. "Members of the SC/ST Parliamentary Forum met the prime minister today to demand that an Act is necessary to provide reservations to SC/ST, which is done through a government order," LJP chief Paswan said.
On the sets of One and Only, a romantic film starring newcomer Chirag, son of Lok Janshakti Party's president Ram Vilas Paswan.
With assembly polls due in Bihar later this year, political parties have gone on an offensive to woo different caste and community groups in the state.
A delegation of members of Parliament and civil society members, who are on a "fact-finding" tour of Jammu and Kashmir, on Saturday asked the Centre to start a dialogue process for resolution of Kashmir issue and include separatist leaders like Syed Ali Shah Geelani in it.
'The arithmetic of the outcome shows that Nitish is not likely to jettison the BJP, which he might have been tempted to do had he won a majority on his own.'
Paswan, who has chosen to plough a lonely furrow in the ongoing assembly elections, reiterated that the LJP was and will remain loyal towards the BJP, which was staring at the spectre of yet another "paltimaar" (volte face) by the JD-U president.
'Chirag Paswan wanted my help to become a star.' 'I tried to explain to him that becoming a star was not in my hands.' 'He insisted that I had the power to do it.'
Voting has begun for the by-election to 11 of the 18 assembly constituencies in Bihar on Tuesday morning. The polling will decide the fate of 99 contestants, including nine women.
The Supreme Court order that Bihar Government had no authority to challenge Lalu Prasad's acquittal in a disproportionate assets case has not gone down well with the ruling National Democratic Alliance in Bihar, though the Rashtriya Janata Dal chief and his Lok Janshakti Party counterpart Ram Vilas Paswan welcomed the verdict.
All the major political parties in Bihar, be it the ruling Janata Dal-United Bharatiya Janata Party combine or the Rashtriya Janata Dal-Lok Janshakti Party combine, face gradual revolt within their respective rank and file over denial of party nominations to prospective candidates of their choice.
Lok Janshakti Party supremo Ramvilas Paswan on Saturday urged the Centre to raise the number of Lok Sabha seats from 543 to 814 and make provisions for a separate quota for women from Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, other weaker sections of society and minorities."I have serious apprehensions over the passage of the Bill in its present form. We have suggested increasing the number of seats from existing 543 to 814," said Paswan.
No signs of tension reflected on the faces of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee. The trio in fact stayed back in Lok Sabha even after the House was adjourned for an hour.
The Congress on Tuesday backed the suspension of seven members from the Rajya Sabha for their unruly behaviour over the women's bill, for the remaining part of the session, saying the provocation was 'rarest of the rare'."The decision of the Chair was certainly rarest of the rare but the provocation too was rarest of the rare," Abhishek Singhvi said. "A small minority cannot take the country to ransom," the spokesman said.
Seven members of the Rajya Sabha belonging to the Samajwadi Party, the Rashtriya Janata Dal, the Lok Janshakti Party and an independent Member of Parliament were suspended on Tuesday for the remaining part of the budget session for their unruly behaviour in the House on Monday over the Women's Reservation Bill.The suspended members are Subhash Yadav (RJD), Sabir Ali (LJP), Veerpal Singh Yadav, Nand Kishore Yadav, Amir Alam Khan and Kamal Akhtar (SP) and Ejaz Ali.
Rashtriya Janata Dal and Lok Janshakti Party leaders Lalu Prasad and Ramvilas Paswan on Monday said that the three Bihar policemen held hostage for eight days by Maoists had been freed on humanitarian grounds and the Nitish Kumar government could not take credit for it.
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.
A Bihar court on Wednesday issued fresh summons to Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad, his wife Rabri Devi and Lok Janshakti Party President Ramvilas Paswan directing them to appear before it in person on September 15 in a case in which they are accused of damaging public property.
A state-wide shutdown spearheaded by the opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal Lok Janshakti Party combine in Bihar against the recent hike in fuel prices began on Saturday morning.Elaborate security arrangements have been made to prevent any untoward incidents. Essential services including hospitals, water supply and electricity supply have been exempted from the purview of the shutdown.The administration will try to keep all links to major towns open.
The July 5 'Bharat Bandh' to protest fuel price hike is unlikely to get the support of all non-Congress non-United Progressive Alliance parties with Bahujan Samaj Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Lok Janshakti Party and Rashtriya Lok Dal so far maintaining a silence on which side of the political divide they are.
Bharatiya Janata Party's Varun Gandhi, Aam Aadmi Party candidate in Amethi Kumar Vishwas and Lok Janshakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan were among the prominent candidates who filed nominations on the fourth day for the penultimate phase of Lok Sabha election covering 64 seats in seven states.
Lok Janshakti Party supremo Ram Vilas Paswan and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Rajeev Pratap Rudy on Thursday won their respective Rajya Sabha seats from Bihar.It has been reported that the BJP and its partner Janata Dal -United are optimistic about winning three seats, while the Rashtriya Janata Dal and LJP appear confident of winning both the seats they are contesting.The RJD-LJP alliance has the support of 68 MLAs, against the requirement of 76.
Top political leaders of Bihar, including Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Rashtriya Janata Dal supremo Lalu Prasad and Lok Janshakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan, on Monday strongly condemned the attack on Samajwadi Party Member of Legislative Assembly Abu Asim Azmi.Nitish Kumar condemned the incident and declared that it had again exposed the MNS' true colours "We will take the matter up with the Union government as well as the Maharashtra government."
Union minister Ramvilas Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party will contest six seats in Jharkhand, where the party was excluded by three other United Progressive Alliance partners in the seat-sharing arrangement. LJP candidates will contest for Palamu, Chatra, Dhanbad, Hazaribagh, Koderma and Jamshedpur seats out of 14 Jharkhand LS seats, party spokesman Sanjay Singh told PTI in Patna on Tuesday. =
First Investigation Reports have been filed against Bihar minister Jitan Ram Manjhi and four Members of Parliament including Bharatiya Janata Party's Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Pappu Yadav of Rashtriya Janata Dal and his wife for allegedly violating the model code of conduct for elections.
Lok Janshakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan has fielded himself and two close relatives including his son and brother, to contest the Lok Sabha polls in Bihar.
One is a budding cricketer and the other is a wannabe actor, but politics is what they have in common. Tejaswi Yadav, a cricketer, is better known as the son of Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad's son. Chirag Paswan, who is looking for a break in Bollywood, is the son of Lok Janshakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan.
Forced to lie low after their dismal performance in the Lok Sabha elections, parties like Samajwadi Party, Janada Dal - Secular, Lok Janshakti Party and the Left Front have come together in Maharashtra to contest the assembly elections. Having formed the Republican Left Democratic Front in the state, these parties claim that the alliance is only for the assembly elections in Maharashtra, which are scheduled to be held on October 13.
Be it the ruling Janata Dal-United or Bharatiya Janata Party, or the opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal, Lok Janshakti Party and Congress, election time in Bihar proves that blood is thicker than water when it comes to issuing tickets to the kin of politicians.
Speaking to the media, Paswan said, "I am beginning Ashirvad Yatra from Hajipur because it was my father's karmbhoomi. We will hold this yatra in every district. Our only aim is to take everyone's blessings.
Former Union minister and Lok Janshakti Party supremo Ram Vilas Paswan was arrested along with dozens of party leaders in Patna on Monday, during a 'Jail Bharo Abhiyan' to protest against failure of Nitish Kumar-led government in Bihar.
Proceedings in the Rajya Sabha were disrupted briefly on Thursday when Lok Janshakti Party leader Ram Vilas Paswan demanded suspension of Question Hour to discuss the issue of rise in saffron terror in the country.
Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani on Sunday found support from rivals Communist party of India - Marxist, Janata Dal - Secular and Lok Janshakti Party for his suggestion for the re-introduction of ballot papers in place of Electronic Voting Machines.Advani has not cast any doubts on the results of the Lok Sabha elections but feels the country should revert to ballot papers, starting with the Maharashtra assembly elections in October and some more states later.
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