'This election was won because of Nitish Kumar's face and his policies.'
Call it political opportunism or sagacity, his moves, in effect, have not allowed the Bharatiya Janata Party to appoint its own chief minister to date, despite enjoying a near hegemonic status nationally and the best performance in recently held assembly polls where the saffron party bagged 89 seats, followed by the Janata Dal-United with 85.
'Removing Nitish Kumar prematurely risks unsettling both the alliance balance and parts of the social coalition that delivered this victory.'
If he cannot do it this term by using his bureaucracy and experts from different fields, it will be a tragedy, asserts Ramesh Menon.
While it is evident that the INDIA bloc has not shut its doors on Nitish Kumar, those within the NDA are hopeful that the JD-U's support base would benefit them as well
Another populist decision of the government was the announcement of an unemployment allowance for the youth: Rs 1,000 per month for two years for graduates and those who have completed class 12 but remain unemployed.
Both NDA and INDIA are racing to woo marginalised groups with Assembly polls fast approaching.
The Congress party has voiced its opposition to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar, calling it a 'Tughlaqi process'. The party stated that all options are open for the INDIA bloc to collectively decide on the issue.
In an attempt to revamp its image as people friendly, the Bihar police have re-launched its campaign to enroll underprivileged children to government schools.
A day after 21 houses were set on fire in Bihar's Nawada district, a top state government official on Thursday said 15 people have been arrested in this connection.
In a surprising move, the Rashtriya Janata Dal announced it would support the new Janata Dal-United government in Bihar headed by Jitan Ram Manjhi.
After much pressure from Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, the police have arrested Neel Nidhi Singh, main accused of the gang-rape of 5 Mahadalit women, all rag-pickers, in a village in Bihar's Bhojpur district.
Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com does a deep dive into four elections when Narendra Modi resorted to anti-Muslim fervour and points out that Hindu-Muslim politics does not necessarily mean victory for the BJP.
Concealed beneath the feat, which testifies to his political acumen and survival instincts, is the fact that the 72-year-old leader could never remain at peace with his allies which also made him change partners frequently.
'She showed courage at every turn in her political career.'
'It must be kept in mind that the LJP has never been a fan of Nitish Kumar's style of politics. He has harmed the Dalits by creating a sub-group of Mahadalits for his own political gains'
The longest-serving chief minister of any Hindi- speaking state, Nitish Kumar seems to have acquired an aura of indispensability when it comes to the highest seat of power in Bihar.
For 64 years now, India has been celebrating Independence Day, but without Bihar's 41.25 lakh Mahadalit families. But this August 15 will be different. Thanks to initiatives by the Nitish Kumar-led government Mahadalit hamlets across the state are gearing up for D-Day and how! M I Khan captures the fervour in Phulwarisharief near Patna, where the Tricolour will be unfurled for the first time in six decades.
Is Salman Khan trying to jump on the desh bhakti bandwagon that Akshay Kumar is making a career of?
Free of cost radios provided by the state government to the Mahadalits, the poorest of the poor in Bihar, is proving useless, as they are selling them to raise money for chicken, mutton and country liquor. M I Khan reports.
Fed up with rampant corruption and loss of money through forgery by a middleman led a Mahadalit man, his wife and three children to commit suicide in Bihar's Aurangabad district, police said on Monday.
The Congress chief added that the governments of Delhi and Bihar are 'captive governments' -- demonetisation, lockout, trade-off, economic bandit, farm-barn captive, bread-employment detention.
Prasad, who became chief minister of Bihar in 1990, had anointed his wife on the CM chair after he was sent to jail in 1997 over multi-crore fodder scam cases.
The benefits of the Centre's Integrated Child Development Services are not reaching the most impoverished children in Bihar, a latest survey report has revealed. The report of the rapid assessment survey -- conducted jointly by the Bihar Lok Adhikar Manch and Child Rights and You -- strongly emphasises the inadequacy of the ICDS service delivery system in the state, especially in the impoverished Dalit and Mahadalit societies.
Suspected encephalitis has killed 12 children in 48 hours in Bihar's Muzaffarpur and Gaya districts, taking the death toll to 32 in the last 10 days, officials on Wednesday said. The victims were mostly Mahadalits.
More than 270 children suspected of encephalitis have been admitted for treatment. M I Khan reports.
The dreaded encephalitis, a mosquito-borne disease, has killed 92 children, mostly Mahadalits, while more than half a dozen are still fighting for their life in Bihar's Gaya district, state health officials said on Thursday.
Patna high court takes up PIL; directs state government to file reply within two weeks on the steps taken to counter the disease. M I Khan reports.
Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad on Monday demanded the resignation of Bihar assembly Speaker Udai Narayan Choudhry for allegedly violating Constitutional norms by seeking support for the Mahadalit rally organised by ruling Janata Dal-United.
A 15-year-old Mahadalit was allegedly burnt to death in Bihar's Rohtas district by an upper caste man because the boy's goat grazed standing paddy crop.
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.
Microsoft chief Bill Gates arrived in Patna on his day-long maiden Bihar visit, on Wednesday morning.
Manjhi said he had held rallies across the state where the "consensus" was to get "rid" of the Lalu-Nitish combine.
In a bid to woo voters, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday promised laptops for students, colour televisions for Dalit and Mahadalit families, two-wheelers for girls and dhoti-sari for poor families annually if it wins the Bihar assembly polls and forms the next government.
Bihar's ruling Janata Dal-United has issued a show cause notice to Member of Legislative Assembly from Ziradei constituency, Shyam Bahadur Singh, who danced with half a dozen bar dancers at his official residence in Patna last week to entertain participants of a Mahadalit rally.
"If the current Chief Minister again wins this election by mistake then our state will lose. Our state will again stand on the verge of getting ruined. "I wonder how he promotes casteism. It is not appropriate to imagine the development of Bihar under the leadership of a person who promotes communalism," Paswan said while launching the party's manifesto for the Bihar assembly polls.
From the Yadav-dominated Madhepura to the Brahmin-dominated Darbhanga and Bhumihar-dominated Begusarai -- three of the seven parliamentary constituencies in Bihar -- that go to vote on April 30 are crucial for Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar as it will be a test of his 'development model'.
'Everyone relies on caste to win elections in Bihar.'
Nearly 10 days after 200 poor Mahadalits converted to Christianity in a village near Bodh Gaya in Bihar's Gaya district, around 500 Hindus on Saturday converted to Buddhism in over half a dozen villages in Gaya, police officials said.
There have been media reports that the LJP was unhappy over the return of the Hindustani Awam Morcha-Secular into the National Democratic Alliance fold and contempleting fielding candidates against JD-U nominees.
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