With Bihar and West Bengal assembly elections in sight, Rashtriya Janata Dal and Trinamool Congress on Saturday demanded implementation of a 17-year-old Supreme Court order to provide salaries to Imams (clerics) of government-aided mosques.
Taking strong exception to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar describing RJD chief Lalu Prasad as "king of terror", the party on Wednesday said it would move the Election Commission seeking action against the JD-U leader for breaching model code of conduct in place for Bihar Assembly polls.
RJD MLA Dinesh Bhai has threatened to immolate himself if he does not get to keep his assembly seat.
'Nitish Kumar's newly-formed alliance with BJP would unravel before the 2025 assembly polls in Bihar'
Two senior leaders from Lalu Prasad Yadav's Rashtriya Janata Dal have joined Nitish Kumar's ruling Janata Dal-United.
This will be the first time the BJP has got more seats than Chief Minister Nitish Kumar-led JD-U in Bihar, underscoring the change in their equations after they joined hands a few months back.
The Bharatiya Janata Party suffered stunning losses in three Hindi heartland states, partial poll results showed Tuesday, forcing the party to rely on allies to form the government after a bitter and divisive election that was projected as a referendum on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's popularity.
Congress and RJD are single largest parties in Goa and Bihar respectively.
The ED said AB Exports Pvt Ltd is a "shell" or fake company owned by Prasad's son and Bihar deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav and Chanda Yadav (another daughter of the RJD chief) and its registered address is the bungalow located in the New Friends Colony area.
The marathon polling process to elect the 18th Lok Sabha ended on Saturday with the seventh phase of elections witnessing an approximate voter turnout of 62.36 per cent, amid clashes between Trinamool Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party supporters in Sandeshkhali and some other parts of West Bengal.
As many as 12 MLAs of the Congress have threatened to boycott the upcoming state assembly session from February 23 and head to Jaipur if the ministers are not replaced with new faces.
The Rashtriya Janata Dal on Sunday has expressed its full faith and confidence in its jailed leader Lalu Prasad and his wife and former Bihar chief minister Rabri Devi to lead the party.
Bihar's ruling JD-U and Lalu Prasad's RJD will contest the state assembly elections in alliance and a 6-member committee will be constituted for seat-sharing talks.
'It seems that Modi ji has some hand in the EVMs'
Controversial Rashtriya Janata Dal MP Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav on Thursday was expelled from the party for six years over anti-party activities.
A large section of the Congress - an ally of the coalition government in Jharkhand - initially preferred President's Rule. But Congress President Sonia Gandhi had to change her mind today as RJD chief Lalu Prasad is keen to see that the Jharkhand government continues with a new chief minister.
Shaili Devi was being treated in Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences in Patna.
Chosen for the country's highest civilian award Bharat Ratna a day ahead of his birth anniversary, Karpoori Thakur has been the veritable 'Jan Nayak' or people's hero of politics in Bihar, whose legacy parties cutting across ideologies seek to claim.
The opposition's Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) will hold a 'maha rally' at Delhi's Ramlila Maidan on March 31 to safeguard the country's interests and democracy, Aam Aadmi Party leader Gopal Rai said on Sunday.
Several BJP leaders recalled Kejriwal's claim of probity and past allegations of corruption against politicians, including Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Sharad Pawar among others, while seeking their arrest, as they claimed that he has been exposed now.
'We want to strengthen hands of Modiji and sure that LJP (Ram Vilas) will contest polls as an ally of NDA.'
Development economist Jean Dreze said the Indian democracy is currently navigating a crisis that is not only limited to the 'recent wave of authoritarianism' but also suppression of opposition voices by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
Reacting to the grand old Congress party's decline to the 'pran-pratishtha' ceremony invitations of Ram Lalla in Ayodhya, Digvijaya said that the ruling party had turned the event into a BJP and VHP event.
'He has emerged as a formidable leader who cannot be ignored anymore, who cannot be mocked.'
Seventy-seven MLAs were present in the assembly during the voting.
The Bharatiya Janata Party also slammed Kejriwal's continuation as the chief minister of Delhi despite being under arrest, saying it is the most unfortunate moment in the country's political journey and the worst kind of politics.
Reacting to the incident of a police sub-inspector being mowed down by a tractor carrying illegally mined sand in Jamui, Bihar Minister Chandra Shekhar said that the incident is nothing new and asked whether such incidents did not happen in other states.
The Congress has not released a poll manifesto but a declaration of appeasement.
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.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday rubbished reports that he was trying to engineer defection in Rashtriya Janata Dal to bolster numbers of his government which at present is surviving on support of Independents and Congress Legislators.
'Despite being Bihar chief minister twice and an MLA for over three decades, he and my mother used to stay in a jhopri in our village.'
'He should not come to Kerala and fight against the CPI which is an integral part of the INDIA alliance'
Amid speculation over the fate of alliance between the Janata Dal-United and Rashtriya Janata Dal ahead of the crucial Bihar polls, JD-U President Sharad Yadav on Thursday insisted that both the parties will fight the assembly polls in the state together in alliance with the Congress to challenge a resurgent Bharatiya Janata Party.
The Mahagathbandhan, or grand alliance, on Saturday reached a consensus on seat distribution with the JD-U and the RJD to contest 101 seats each while Congress will put up candidates in 41 seats for the October-November Bihar assembly poll.
The political landscape of Bihar is set to change as the Congress, the Rashtriya Janata Dal and Ram Vilas Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party are in the final stages of putting together an alliance for the Lok Sabha polls.
The video showed the sloganeers flashing the victory sign near Alam's residence.
The Janata Dal-United supremo was replying to queries from journalists in Darbhanga district which he visited as part of his state-wide mass outreach programme 'Samadhan Yatra'.
Rashtriya Janata Dal President Lalu Prasad on Wednesday said that final talks on alliance with Congress in Bihar for the coming Lok Sabha polls has been completed and the announcement of the tie up is expected Wednesday evening.
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