JDU

The Janata Dal (United) on Thursday asked its ally BJP to act against Shehzad Poonawalla, a national spokesperson of the ruling party, for his comments targeting an AAP leader which, the regional party said, has caused deep displeasure among people from Purvanchal. In a statement, JD(U) spokesperson Rajiv Ranjan Prasad said, "Poonawalla has made a mistake. His comments have caused deep displeasure among people from Purvanchal. The JD(U) seeks action from the BJP's leadership against Poonawalla for his comments." In a heated discussion during a news channel debate on Wednesday, Poonawalla had played on AAP MLA Rituraj Jha's surname to take a jibe at him, a remark slammed as abusive by Delhi's ruling party. His swipe had come after Jha played with the BJP spokesperson's surname to take a dig at him. The BJP leader has insisted that he never abused anyone and accused the AAP of spreading "lies" and his character assassination. BJP's Purvanchali face and North East Delhi MP Manoj Tiwa

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday inaugurated and laid foundation stones for a host of developmental projects worth Rs 201.12 crore in East Champaran district. Kumar, during the second day of his Pragati Yatra', visited Sundarpur village under the Kesaria assembly seat and virtually laid the foundation stones for the schemes. According to a statement issued by the Chief Minister's Office (CMO), He inaugurated the newly constructed building of a government school in Sundarpur. Kumar also handed over the management of a pond constructed under the Jal-Jeevan-Hariyali scheme to JEEViKA Didis' (women associated with self-help groups under the JEEViKA project). He distributed symbolic cheques of financial assistance of Rs 3.35 crore to 1,26,354 JEEViKA Didis'. The chief minister directed officials concerned for immediate construction of two bridges over the Dhanauti river in Majuraha and Budhi Gandak in Ibrahimpur area, respectively, in the district. Besides, he asked offici

The NDA will contest the assembly polls in Bihar next year under the leadership of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Deputy Chief Minister and BJP leader Samrat Choudhary said on Sunday. "There is no confusion," he said during a press conference at the BJP headquarters when asked to comment on speculation that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) could do a rethink on projecting Kumar as its leader in the polls. He was responding to Union Home Minister Amit Shah's recent interview to a news channel in which he was asked if the NDA could go to the polls in Bihar without declaring a chief ministerial candidate, like it recently did with great success in Maharashtra. Shah, a former BJP president who is still regarded as the party's principal strategist, had replied after a pause, "We will sit together and decide. We will let you know after we have made a decision." The cryptic response had led to furious speculation that the BJP could insist on not ...

The Janata Dal (United) on Friday accused Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal of not giving representation to Dalits and backward classes, and said a leader tainted with corruption charges has no right to give suggestions to someone like Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. The attack on the former Delhi chief minister from two key JD(U) leaders, Union minister Lalan Singh and Sanjay Jha, came a day after Kejriwal wrote a letter to Kumar asking him to "deeply reflect" on Union Home Minister Amit Shah's alleged insulting comments for B R Ambedkar. Kejriwal had written a similar letter to another key BJP ally, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu. Jha responded to the AAP leader by writing he did not send a single leader from the Dalit and backward castes to the Rajya Sabha and accusing him of backtracking on his promise of picking a Dalit deputy chief minister in Punjab. Jha asked if the AAP leader could not find anyone from these classes to replace him as Delhi chief

JD(U) spokesman and MLC Neeraj Kumar on Sunday took a dig at Tejashwi Yadav, the leader of the opposition in the Bihar assembly, claiming that the RJD leader may give the winter session a slip out of "political shame". Kumar's comments in a video message came a day after the NDA, of which the party is a crucial partner, swept by-elections to four assembly seats in the state, retaining Imamganj and wresting from the INDIA bloc Tarari, Ramgarh and Belaganj. The RJD lost two seats, thereby getting deprived of the "single-largest party" status in the 243-strong assembly that Yadav and his colleagues prided themselves on. Kumar also recalled Yadav's absence during the monsoon session, asserting that the latter had played truant because of "raajneetik lajja (political shame)" resulting from the Lok Sabha polls. The NDA, which won back Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, the JD(U) supremo, earlier this year, bagged 30 out of 40 Lok Sabha seats in the state. The RJD, which is INDIA bloc's larges

Maintaining that he "made a mistake twice" in the past by joining hands with RJD, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Saturday said that now he would stay permanently with the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). Addressing a public meeting in favour of NDA nominee, Vishal Prashant of BJP for the Tarari assembly byelection, Kumar said, "I have said it earlier alsoI am once again saying that we (BJP-JDU) were together earlier. I made a mistake twice in the past by joining hands with the RJD., I went 'idhar udhar' twice in the pastBut now, I have again come to the NDA. I will remain permanently with the NDA". He said, "We have been working for the development of Bihar since 2005. Several infrastructural and development works have been done in Bihar after 2005..and it will continue further under the NDA rule". Kumar accused RJD of trying to "polarise" votes on "communal lines" in the upcoming bypolls in the state. "They (RJD) always try to create a divide on communal lines. When RJD w

Most BJP allies have kept their cards close to chest on the issue of Uniform Civil Code, which Prime Minister Narendra Modi strongly backed in his Independence Day speech, with the party's largest partner Telugu Desam Party (TDP) saying that it will wait for details to emerge before finalising its stand. The JD(U), the BJP's second biggest ally, said the party supports any such reform but its spokesperson K C Tyagi added that it must be pushed only after evolving a consensus by speaking to all stake-holders, including religious groups and states. Lavu Srikrishna Devarayalu, the head of TDP Parliamentary Party, told PTI that his party will wait for the details of any proposal related to the UCC before finalising its stand. Another party ally Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) has also been non-committal, with its president and Union Minister Chirag Paswan recently highlighting cultural, linguistic and regional diversities across the country to wonder how everyone can be brought under on

Janata Dal (U) leader and Union Minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh 'Lalan' on Thursday said the Waqf (Amendment) Bill was aimed at bringing transparency in the functioning of the Waqf Board and not an attempt to interfere with running of mosques. As opposition leaders opposed the introduction of the bill, the JD(U) leader stood up to speak amid uproar by opposition members. "JD(U) is a party here whether it is opposing or supporting, I have to record my view here," Singh said. Defending the bill, he said, "Several members are making it sound as if the amendment in Waqf Board law is anti-Muslim. How is it anti-Muslim?" "Here example of Ayodhya is being given... Can you not differentiate between a temple and an institution? This is not an attempt to interfere with mosques. This law is for the institution, to make it transparent..." he claimed. "How was the Waqf Board formed? It was through a law. Any institution established through law becomes autocratic. Government has the right to bring

The combined opposition, BJP and JD(S), on Tuesday continued their protest march, demanding the resignation of Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah over the alleged Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) site allotment 'scam.' The week-long Bengaluru -Mysuru padayatre (foot march) has sought to highlight the alleged fraudulent allotment of sites to land losers by MUDA, including to Siddaramaiah's wife Parvathi. The fourth day of the 'Mysuru Chalo' protest began at Nidaghatta near here and is scheduled to cover a distance of 20 km to reach the district headquarters city of Mandya. BJP State President and MLA B Y Vijayendra, former Deputy Chief Minister C N Ashwath Narayan, Deputy Leader of Opposition in Assembly Arvind Bellad, several legislators, leaders and workers from both parties took part as the march resumed. A large number of workers and leaders from both parties were seen marching shouting slogans against Siddaramaiah and the Congress government, holding BJP and JD(S)

The Congress would unitedly fight against the BJP and JD(S)'s attempts to destabilise the Siddaramaiah government, the ruling party in Karnataka said on Sunday, backing its chief minister who is on the opposition's radar in MUDA and state-run Valmiki Corporation "scams". "Everybody knows about Siddaramaiah's honesty. He is not a new chief minister here. Everybody knows about his career, where he started, where he is now, also his ideology and his background," Congress General Secretary in-charge of Organisation K C Venugopal told reporters here. His comments came after he held a meeting with state ministers along with Congress General Secretary in-charge of the state Randeep Singh Surjewala, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy D K Shivakumar. Shivakumar is also the party's Karanataka unit chief. The meeting comes in the wake of Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot issuing a show cause notice to Siddaramaiah, which is seen as a precursor to giving sanction to his prosecution in the .

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's JD(U) on Saturday said that it wanted to contest the assembly elections in neighbouring Jharkhand in alliance with the BJP. Kumar chaired a meeting of his party at his official residence and it was attended by JD(U) working president Sanjay Kumar Jha, who is in charge of Jharkhand, Bihar minister Ashok Choudhary and Rajya Sabha MP Khiru Mahto, who heads the JD(U)'s unit in the adjoining state, among others. After the meeting, Mahto told reporters, "We are looking forward to contesting the Jharkhand assembly polls in alliance with the BJP." "Among the issues discussed with the party's supreme leader was the inclusion of Kurmis in the list of Scheduled Tribes. Kurmi leaders in Jharkhand have been raising the demand for some time and today it was seconded by delegates from West Bengal. We will now move forward by raising the issue in Parliament and before President Droupadi Murmu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah," he ..

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced an allocation of Rs 15,000 crore for Andhra Pradesh. She said the Centre will set up airports, medical colleges, and sports infrastructure in Bihar

Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha news: Catch all the news updates related to the developments in the Parliament here

The Janata Dal (United) on Saturday appointed Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Kumar Jha as its working president and urged the Centre to consider either special category status or special package for Bihar, underlining the party's important role in the formation of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government. The party's national executive meeting chaired by its president and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar flagged price rise and unemployment as "burning issues", as its political resolution expressed confidence that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government would take more effective steps to handle them. The resolution called for extensive probe into paper leak cases to ensure stringent action against the guilty so as to maintain the credibility of central competitive exams. There is also a need for Parliament to enact a strong law against leaks of examination papers, it added. Kumar's decision to appoint his confidant as the party's working president, a position not held by ..

The demand for Bihar's special category status is crucial now as BJP relies on support from JD(U), which has 12 seats in the new Lok Sabha, to stay in power at the Centre

The JD(U) appointed its Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Jha as working president on Saturday. The decision was taken at a meeting of its national executive where the party reiterated its demand for special category status for Bihar, while adding that the Centre could also consider an alternative in a special package, its senior leader Neeraj Kumar said. The BJP ally also demanded stringent action against culprits in exam paper leak cases and called for a strong law to rule out such incidents in the future. The decision to appoint Jha as working president is significant since he is known to have a good equation with the BJP leadership. He is also the party's leader in the Rajya Sabha. Party sources said Jha was well-suited to draw a good deal from the BJP and maintain a friendly relationship between the two parties, which have a history of bumpy ties. Bihar Chief Minister and JD(U) president Nitish Kumar, Union ministers Lalan Singh and Ram Nath Thakur, and other senior leaders from aro

The Economic Offences Unit (EOU) of Bihar Police on Thursday arrested four persons, including three from West Bengal, in connection with the constable recruitment examination question paper leak on October 1, 2023, leading to its cancellation by the Central Selection Board of Constables (CSBC) on October 3. The arrested persons are Kaushik Kumar Kar and Sanjay Das, both residents of North 24 Parganas, West Bengal, and Suman Bishwas from Kolkata. Another arrested person, Saurabh Bandhopadhay, hails from Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. Earlier, on June 5, the EOU had arrested Ashwani Ranjan, Vikki Kumar, and Aniket, all residents of Bihar and alleged members of the interstate Sanjeev Mukhiya gang, currently in judicial custody. Several members of the Mukhiya gang have already been arrested by Bihar Police in connection with the NEET (UG) and Bihar Public Service Commission's (BPSC) Teachers Recruitment Exam (TRE) - 3 paper leak cases. The EOU has so far registered a total of 74 FIRs across .

Lok Sabha Speaker news updates: NDA's candidate Om Birla has been elected as the Lok Sabha Speaker on Wednesday. The BJP leader will retain the Speaker's post

Lok Sabha updates: As the 18th Lok Sabha began, Rahul Gandhi underscored that the Opposition-led INDIA bloc would not tolerate the alleged attacks on Constitution by PM Modi and Amit Shah

Rajeev Ranjan 'Lalan' is the only minister from the Janata Dal (United) in the Union Cabinet