Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar engaged in a heated exchange with Leader of the Opposition Rabri Devi in the Legislative Council, dismissing her as "inconsequential" without her husband, RJD president Lalu Prasad. The spat stemmed from RJD MLCs wearing badges promoting quota hikes passed during Tejashwi Yadav's tenure as Deputy CM, which Nitish Kumar perceived as an attempt to claim credit for the populist move. Kumar also remarked that Rabri Devi was only propped up by her husband when he was in trouble, referring to her becoming Chief Minister in 1997 while Lalu Prasad faced corruption charges. The war of words between the two rivals has intensified, with the RJD accusing Kumar of losing his mental balance and being unfit to rule.
The remarks of the bench came after advocate MS Dhingra, appearing for UP legislative council chairman's office, sought time to file the reply.
According to Santosh Kumar, the superintendent of police of Saran district, three persons each have died in Isuapur and Mashrak police station areas after allegedly consuming spurious liquor on Tuesday night.
Bahujan Samaj Party president and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati will seek re-entry into the state's Upper House of Legislature.
Sale and consumption of alcohol was completely banned in Bihar by the Nitish Kumar government in April, 2016.
This year promises to offer ample opportunities on the electoral turf to the SP, BSP and Congress to get their act together and play the "semi-final" of sorts before the "final match" two years later, reports Virendra Singh Rawat
It was a day of mayhem for the main opposition party as S M Qamar Alam, a national general secretary of the RJD, walked to the chamber of Vidhan Parishad Acting chairman Awadhesh Narain Singh along with four others to tender their resignation. The other MLCs who resigned are Sanjay Prasad, Radha Charan Seth, Ranvijay Kumar Singh and Dlip Rai.
Uttar Pradesh's Chief Minister-designate Akhilesh Yadav has said he will seek an election to the state's Legislative Council instead of contesting an Assembly by-poll.
Notwithstanding former Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh's claims that his "illness" had forced to step down, party sources said it was a deliberate sideline by SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav's son Akhilesh Yadav that prompted Singh to withdraw in anger.
Arvind Dave replaced Ved Marwah as governor of Manipur. Marwah in turn replaced M Rama Jois in Jharkhand, and Jois moved to neighbouring Bihar.
Congress on Monday announced a slew of populist measures including sops to farmers, students, unemployed youths, minorities, raising subsidised LPG cylinders from 9 to 12 and constitution of Vidhan Parishad in its manifesto for the Madhya Pradesh assembly elections.
In the backdrop of the ongoing farm protests, back into public consciousness in the aftermath of the recent Lakhimpur Kheri episode, smaller parties are expected to not only enliven the election theatre, but also queer the pitch for the Opposition.
Announcing the name of candidates for the West Bengal assembly polls, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday said she will be contesting from the Nandigram constituency as announced earlier.
After Rajnath Singh and Uma Bharti, another union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi feels the same.
Union Minister Prakash Javadekar will get a Rajya Sabha berth from Madhya Pradesh after his name was finalised by the Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday.
The BJP is seeking backdoor entry for Yogi and four of his ministers to the state legislature.
The order soon got mired in political controversy with the opposition Samajwadi Party crying hoarse that the move smacked of politics ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
Amid the raging feud in Mulayam Singh Yadav's family, Samajwadi Party leader Ramgopal Yadav on Thursday said the leadership had committed a "mistake" by removing Akhilesh Yadav as party's UP president and that "differences" had arisen due to some "misunderstanding".
He is among the contenders for the top job in the event the BJP gets fewer seats in 2019. That may have something to do with him picking up the cudgels for Sushma Swaraj when many in the party kept mum, says Aditi Phadnis.
Mulayam had slammed the SP-Congress alliance and said that the SP was capable of contesting elections alone.
Ahead of the 2019 elections, the race for consolidating the Dalit vote-bank has intensified among all the political parties, more so in Uttar Pradesh, where the community comprises almost 21 per cent of the population.
'Fourteen lives have been lost; the BMC should be charged with murder for this loss of lives,' says Congress MLA Nitesh Rane.
The Congress was not unduly perturbed by reports that party vice-president Rahul Gandhi's application for proof of residence in Amethi was turned down by the district magistrate, stating emphatically that this would have no impact on his nomination from his Lok Sabha constituency. Anita Katyal explains why
Mayawati charged that the communal atmosphere in the state had been spoilt because of an understanding between the SP and the BJP.
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