The BJP-led NDA leaders have attacked RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav for his statement that Bihar assembly polls is a fight between 'backward versus forward' forces.
Upendra Kushwaha, president of the Rashtriya Lok Samta Party, which is part of the National Democratic Alliance government at the Centre, admits the Bihar assembly elections will be a close contest and will be fought along the lines of caste.
'The BJP supporters assert that the appeal of Modi remains a big draw for voters.' 'While the Opposition's alliance is hoping to counter it with its social arithmetic.'
Aiming to end the 25-year rule of Lalu-Nitish combine in Bihar, the National Democratic Alliance will formally launch on Thursday its campaign for the crucial assembly polls scheduled later this year with BJP president Amit Shah set to flag off 160 'parivartan raths' from Patna.
'The Congress agreed to it, but the RJD has some problem with Kanhaiya.'
The ruling party seems in far better shape than the Congress, which is yet to finalise seat-sharing agreements in several states.
The RLSP's attack on the JD-U came in the backdrop of media reports after a recent meeting of Kumar with Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah in Delhi.
Congress chief Sonia Gandhi on Thursday brushed aside Union minister Giriraj Singh's racist comment saying she need not reply to a person with "neech mansikita" (narrow mindset)
The feud in the family -- brother versus brother, sister versus brother, and daughter versus mother -- is an open secret. In the absence of the patriarch, there is no one to compose their differences, reports Satyavrat Mishra.
M I Khan in Patna Nearly twelve years after he left the National Democratic Alliance and resigned from the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government after the Gujarat riots in 2002, Lok Janshakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan will share the dais with Gujarat Chief Minister and Bharatiya Janata party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi at his 'hunkar' rally in Bihar's Muzaffarpur town on Monday. Paswan, who joined the NDA last week to contest the Lok Sabha polls and took a U-turn on Modi, will appear in public with the BJP's top brass including Modi at the rally. Paswan's son Chirag will also be present at the function. Upendra Kushwaha is another new face that will be at the event. Kushwaha is the chief of the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) that joined hands with the BJP last week. Both Paswan and Kushwaha are known as their own caste. Paswan is said to enjoy overwhelming support of his caste -- locally known as Dusadh, the only Dalit caste in Bihar after Chief Minister Nitish Kumar categorised 21 other Dalit castes as 'Mahadalit' -- poorest of the poor. Kushwaha has been trying hard for last few years to emerge as a leader of his caste -- Koeri, an agrarian backward caste spread across the state. A senior BJP leader said that presence of Paswan and Kushwaha will send a strong political massage among respective castes in Bihar. "It will strengthen the BJP's social support base in Bihar," he said. In Bihar, the BJP is widely seen as an upper caste party. The much-hyped rally is seen as a bid to mobilise support and strengthen the support base in the state. The state in the Hindi heartland that sends 40 Lok Sabha members to Parliament is politically very important. In the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, the party had won 12 seats, while the Janata Dal-United won 20 seats, when they had contested as a combined force. It is expected that Modi will target Kumar, who has openly opposed him by repeatedly saying that the prime ministerial candidate should be of nsecular credentials.
Now, that's how desperately Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to win Bihar. M I Khan reports from Patna
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has ruled out a rethink on the seat-sharing formula for the 'Grand Secular Alliance' for the state Assembly polls, a day after Nationalist Congress Party's ultimatum for reconsideration by August 20 and its insistence on 12 seats.
In its sway over national politics now, the Modi-Shah BJP is what the Congress was under Indira Gandhi. Why would they indulge coalition partners, their greed and egos now, asks Shekhar Gupta.
The Rashtrapati Bhavan has come out with a communiqu announcing distribution of portfolios of the ministers sworn-in on Monday in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's council of ministers:
Shortly after the Union Budget was announced, political leaders from across the spectrum reacted to it. Here's what some of our leaders said.
The Congress, which had fought nine, lost all but managed to retain Kishanganj.
Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday night released the first list of 43 candidates for the high-stakes Bihar polls, giving about 60 per cent representation to those from SC and backward castes in an apparent attempt to target the base of rival Janata Dal-United-Rashtriya Janata Dal combine.
The BJP leadership believes these parties are flexing their muscles in the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls for better seat-sharing deals.
As per the two party leaders, they held wide-ranging talks on the current political situation in Bihar and the NDA's strategy for contesting the 40 seats in the state in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
The BJP's relations with some alliance partners, including its oldest ally the Shiv Sena, Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal-United, Akali Dal and Rashtriya Lok Samta Party of Union minister Upendra Kushwaha, have been somewhat tense, and Shah's comments are being seen as an attempt to smooth their ruffled feathers.
The Rashtriya Janata Dal with 19 seats, Congress on 9, Rashtriya Lok Samta Party on 5, Hindustani Awam Morcha and Vikassheel Insan Party -- in phases three to seven of the general elections.
'The Mallahs may remain divided between the two competing coalitions in Bihar,' says Mohammad Sajjad.
Known for railing up controversies, Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi was back in the game again on Wednesday evoking sharp criticism after he charged the Centre with ignoring the interest of the state and said seven union ministers from the state would not be allowed entry if they failed to bring desired assistance for the region.
'Everyone relies on caste to win elections in Bihar.'
Most exit polls have forecast gains for Congress in at least four states including a clear majority in Rajasthan.
The JD-U appears unwilling to become the BJP's second-string. A senior leader said, "If the BJP demands that the 2014 polls be made the yardstick for seat-sharing in 2019, we will insist the results of the last assembly polls become the criterion for the next state election." Radhika Ramaseshan reports.
Rumblings of discontent in the Bharatiya Janata Party followed the party's disastrous performance in Bihar assembly elections on Sunday.
Two deaths due to heart attack were also reported from polling stations in Madhubani and Darbhanga districts.
Curtains came down on Tuesday evening on campaigning for 57 seats going to poll in the fifth and last phase of bitterly-fought Bihar assembly elections on November five, with acrimonious exchanges provoking showcause notices from the Election Commission to top leaders of rival alliances.
About 20 helicopters have been pressed into action by parties, with the BJP and its allies using the most.
Voters will decide the fate of 456 candidates in 32 constituencies spread over six Naxal-hit districts.
The JD-U has insisted that Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is the leader of the alliance and it has been the "senior partner" in the state, indicating that it should get a major share.
The bill seeks to provide Indian citizenship to non-Muslims from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
During the meeting that lasted one-and-a-half-hours, the prime minister asked his Cabinet colleagues to take up the "challenge" of reaching the message about the government's functioning to people through better connect with them.
'If Nitish Kumar is given more seats, then no one can stop the NDA from losing, even the BJP will be wiped out.'
Full list of the rejigged Union Council of Ministers
In another dig at Kumar for joining hands with the Rashtriya Janata Dal of Lalu Prasad, Modi reeled out Bihar police crime figure to claim "Jungle raj has begun to knock Bihar."
The BJP-ed National Democratic Alliance on Wednesday launched an all-out attack on the Bihar CM.
'I hope the honourable PM and Mr Shah take steps to ensure that the NDA doesn't split.'
The Bharatiya Janata Party is facing revolt from within in Bihar on a day when the Election Commission announced the schedule for the Lok Sabha polls to be held in April, May.
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