Tag: Bihar-Assembly-Polls

After sacking of Kishor, is there a third force in the making in Bihar?

Source – business-standard.com

‘Third force’ in Bihar?

The Janata Dal (United) on Wed-nesday sacked party vice-president and election strategist Prashant Kishor (pictured) and former diplomat Pavan Varma from the primary membership of the party. It said the two had been making anti-party statements.

According to sources, Kishor is preparing in earnest for the Bihar Assembly polls, scheduled for September-October. Several senior leaders of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) are upset with Tejashwi Yadav. Allies, including Rashtriya Loktantrik Samata Party’s Upendra Kushwaha and others, could also be amenable to join a “third force” in Bihar politics that Kishor hopes to shape.

It could comprise RJD rebels, these smaller parties and the Left parties. Communist Party of India (CPI) leader Kanhaiya Kumar is set to start his whirlwind tour of Bihar in the coming days. With RJD chief Lalu Prasad unwell and in jail, the question now is whether the Congress will sever its alliance with Tejashwi-led RJD and lead such an alliance against Nitish Kumar-led JD (U) and Bharatiya Janata Party alliance.

Better interpretation

The Rajya Sabha currently has an interesting mix of interpreters within its ranks. It has expanded its pool of interpreters after Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu instructed officials to ensure that the House’s “simultaneous interpretation service” in all the 22 scheduled languages of the country operates smoothly.

A total of 32 consultant-interpreters have been hired for seven languages including Dogri, Konkani and Sindhi. Instead of recruiting full-time interpreters, the Rajya Sabha Secretariat has experimented with hiring consultants to be engaged on a need to basis. Rajya Sabha Secretary General Desh Dipak Verma said this was a cost-effective way of meeting the simultaneous interpretation need.

Congress’ Shatru!

The bonhomie between maverick Congress leader Shatrughan Sinha and Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav continues to cause much consternation among Congressmen in Uttar Pradesh. Recently, Shatrughan Sinha and former Union minister Yashwant Sinha had shared the dais with Yadav at the SP headquarters in Lucknow.

The actor-turned-politician had quit Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and joined Congress in the run up to the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. He contested from the Patna Sahib seat but lost, while his wife Poonam Sinha tasted defeat as the SP nominee from the Lucknow parliamentary seat.

Congress’ Lucknow Lok Sabha candidate Acharya Pramod Krishnam took to Twitter to hit out at Sinha over his alleged disloyalty towards the Congress. Other state Congress leaders also expressed dismay over the “conduct” of Sinha and demanded that such people should be shown the door.

Ceding Ground in Delhi for Smooth Landing in Bihar: Explaining BJP’s Generosity Towards Nitish & Paswan.

Source – news18.com

The Bharatiya Janata Party has sought to firm up its alliance for the Bihar assembly polls scheduled later this year by accommodating two of its allies from the heartland state in its Delhi election plans.

The BJP, which is the main challenger to Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party in the national capital, has left two seats for Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) and one for Ram Vilas Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party. The JD(U) will contest from Sangam Vihar and Burari while the Seemapuri seat has been left for the LJP.

Both the regional parties had fielded candidates against the BJP in the Jharkhand assembly polls last year. There were also reports of the JD(U) extending help to BJP rebel candidate Saryu Roy who went on to defeat chief minister Raghubar Das in Jamshedpur.

In Jharkhand, the BJP also failed to firm up its alliance with its regional ally All Jharkhand Students Union, leading to a division of anti-Jharkhand Mukti Morcha votes. This was cited as one of the reasons for the BJP’s poor performance in the tribal-dominated state.

Some BJP allies have also been complaining of getting a short shrift from the NDA leader – both in states and the Centre. The saffron party under Narendra Modi has won clear majority in the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha polls, thus reducing its dependence on allies in running the government.

Shiv Sena, the oldest BJP ally, has already left the NDA to join hands with the NCP and Congress in Maharashtra. Ties with the Shiromani Akali Dal have been strained over RSS’s attempts to expand Rashtriya Sikh Sangat – an affiliate formed to reach out to the Sikh community.

These moves have not gone down well with the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee or SGPC, which coordinates with and is responsible for management of gurdwaras in the country. SAD feels RSS activities are impinging on SGPC activities that are inextricably entwined to the state’s polity.

Both Akali Dal and BJP’s Haryana ally Jannayak Janta Party have backed out of the Delhi polls. One constituency for which SAD had earlier staked claim, Harinagar, has been handed over to the BJP’s Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga. But elections in Punjab are some time away. And SAD, not BJP, has more at stake here.

However, the saffron party is taking no chances ahead of the Bihar polls. Having lost the JD(U) and consequently the elections to Lalu Prasad in 2015, it is extra cautious this time around. Nitish Kumar, on more than one occasion, has been announced as the NDA’s chief ministerial candidate.

Nitish had pulled a hard bargain ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections to extract a few seats more for his party. As a mark of protest against disproportionate allocation of ministerial berths, his party did not join the Modi government.

The BJP, on the other hand, seems to be going the extra mile to accommodate Nitish Kumar and Paswan. Both in Bihar, and elsewhere.

Bihar Assembly Polls: NDA Deal Yet to Be Finalised, LJP Preparing for All 243 Seats, Says Chirag Paswan.

Source – news18.coms

Sheikhpura: No seat-sharing formula has been finalised among partners of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) for Bihar polls and the Lok Jan Shakti Party is readying itself for all 243 Assembly constituencies, LJP chief Chirag Paswan said on Saturday.

He, however, made it clear that JD(U) chief and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is the leader of NDA in Bihar and assembly elections will be fought under his leadership in the state.

Paswan, the Lok Sabha member from Jamui, said any decision on sharing the seats would be taken according to the situation. The LJP party is making preparations for all 243 constituencies, he added. The BJP, JD(U) and LJP are the constituents of NDA in Bihar.

The Assembly election is likely to be held in October-November this year.

On the Citizenship Amendment Act, Paswan said his party is with the central government on the issue and charged the opposition of spreading rumour on the issue.