Page 6 - Nitish Kumar

Party with most seats 'natural claimant' to INDIA bloc leadership: Ramesh

Ramesh said an INDIA bloc government formed after getting the mandate from the people will be 'authoritative' but not 'authoritarian'

Lok Sabha elections: On Nitish Kumar's turf, CPI (ML) eyes an opening

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar hails from Nalanda and he had represented it in the 2004 Lok Sabha polls. His party's dominance on the seat has been a barometer of his personal popularity

PM promised change in Bihar, only change has been Nitish's alliances: Cong

The Congress on Tuesday took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his promise of a transformative package for Bihar, saying that while he talked about changing the face and fate of the state, all that had changed was Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's alliances. Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh also posed several questions to the prime minister ahead of his rallies in Bihar. "Why has the outgoing PM failed to reopen the Motihari Sugar Mill? Why were ambulances purchased using a BJP MP's funds caught smuggling alcohol? What happened to the 1.25 lakh crore package the PM had promised in 2015?" Ramesh said in a post on X. Elaborating on what he said were "jumla details," he said, "It has been 10 years since the outgoing PM promised that his government would reopen the Motihari Sugar Mill during his 2014 campaign. He had explicitly stated that he would come back to Motihari, and drink chai made with sugar from the long-defunct mill. Maybe this is why he has not gone back in 10

LS polls phase 5: Over 34% polling in five seats in Bihar till 1 pm

Voting for five Lok Sabha seats in Bihar began amid tight security arrangements on Monday, a senior election official said. Polling commenced at 7 am in Muzaffarpur, Madhubani, Sitamarhi, Saran and Hajipur constituencies and will continue till 6 pm, the official at the CEO office said. Over 95 lakh voters in the five seats will decide the electoral fate of 80 candidates at 9,436 polling stations. Of the total voters, 45.11 lakh are women, while 21 lakh are under 29 years of age and 1.26 lakh are in the age group of 18-19 years. Notable contestants include NDA ally Chirag Paswan in Hajipur, Lalu Prasad's daughter Rohini Acharya, who is pitted against two-term sitting BJP MP and former Union minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy in Saran, and Muzaffarpur's sitting MP Ajay Nishad, who crossed over to the Congress after being denied a BJP ticket for a third term. Sudhir Kumar Ojha, an advocate who remains in the news for his petitions against top political figures, Bollywood stars and even forei

Sushil Modi to be cremated in Patna today, JP Nadda likely to be present

The last rites of senior BJP leader and former deputy chief minister of Bihar, Sushil Kumar Modi, will take place around 6 pm in Patna on Tuesday, party sources said. Modi, 72, who was suffering from cancer, died in a New Delhi hospital on Monday evening. "The mortal remains of Sushil Modi will be brought from Delhi to Patna around 11.30 am and taken to his house in Rajendra Nagar. Later, his body will be taken to the Bihar assembly and the BJP state headquarters where party workers will pay their tribute to the departed leader, said a senior Bihar BJP member. The funeral will take place at Digha Ghat Crematorium in Patna, he said, adding, BJP national president J P Nadda is likely to be present. He will be cremated with full state honours, a statement issued by the Chief Minister's Office said. Modi served as the deputy chief minister of Bihar from 2005 to 2013, and again between 2017 and 2020. He breathed his last around 9.45 pm at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (A

Serving Bihar my dharma, state is my family: Nitish's open letter to voters

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday penned an open letter to people, urging them to vote for the NDA and persuade their neighbours to do so, while recalling the plight of the state under the previous regime. With only a day left for campaigning to end for the second phase of Lok Sabha polls, scheduled on April 26, the JD(U) supremo, in the letter, asserted that serving Bihar was his dharma and that the entire state was like his family. JD(U) is set to contest all the five seats in the state that will go to polls in the second phase on Friday. The longest-serving chief minister of the state, without mentioning his arch-rival Lalu Prasad and RJD by name, said in the opening remark in the letter, "You would recall the plight of Bihar under the previous regime..." "...scams, murders, robberies and other types of crimes had come to define Bihar. Traders and industrialists migrated to other states. Even doctors were kidnapped for ransom," said Kumar, who ended a short-lived ...

'NDA to win all 40 Bihar seats': PM Modi campaigns for Chirag Paswan

'I am glad that my little brother Chirag has stepped into the shoes of my friend late Ram Vilas Paswan,' said PM Modi in Bihar's Jamui

Prez Murmu to give Bharat Ratna to Karpoori Thakur; family thanks PM Modi

Namita Kumari, former Bihar CM Karpoori Thakur's granddaughter, said that it is a "historic moment" not just for the family but for the entire family

Election latest: Cong drops 'pro-BJP' Jaipur nominee, Kangana on poll debut

Lok Sabha elections: The BJP revealed many surprising names in its latest list of candidates for the Lok Sabha polls, naming actors Kangana Ranaut and Arun Govil as debut nominees

JD(U) releases candidate list; drops two sitting MPs, fields two turncoats

The JD(U), headed by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, on Sunday announced candidates for all the 16 Lok Sabha seats it is contesting in the state, dropping two sitting MPs and fielding two turncoats. The announcement was made here by the party's national vice president Vashishth Narayan Singh in the presence of several other senior JD(U) leaders. The seats where sitting MPs have been dropped are Sitamarhi, where legislative council chairman Devesh Chandra Thakur will be the JD(U) candidate, and Siwan, where Vijay Laxmi Kushwaha got the ticket just a day after she joined the party along with husband Ramesh Singh Kushwaha who was the state president of Rashtriya Lok Morcha, an NDA ally. Another turncoat to have got the party ticket is Lovely Anand, who had quit the RJD to join the JD(U) earlier this month. She will be contesting the polls from Sheohar.

1 dead, 9 injured as under-construction bridge collapses in Bihar's Supaul

One person was killed and nine people injured as a portion of an under-construction bridge collapsed in Bihar's Supaul district in the early hours of Friday, officials said. The 10.2-km bridge was being constructed by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) over the Koshi river between Bheja in Madhubani and Bakaur in Supaul district, they said. NHAI Regional Officer YB Singh told PTI that 10 labourers were trapped under the debris after the accident. "Unfortunately, one person died on the way to the hospital, and the other nine were rescued with minor injuries. They are out of danger now," he said. "Adequate compensation for the deceased as well as injured victims is being arranged. Experts have been briefed and asked to assess the reason for the accident and suggest necessary remedial measures. Senior NHAI officers have rushed to the site to take immediate action on the matter," he added. The bridge has 171 piers, and the span between piers 153 and 154 collapsed, he ...

LS polls: Bihar seat-sharing finalised, BJP to contest 17, JD (U) 16 seats

Lok Sabha polls will commence on April 19 in seven phases. Bihar is one of the three states that will hold elections in all seven phases

Nitish Kumar distributes portfolios, retains Home, General Administration

A day after the expansion of his cabinet, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Saturday allocated portfolios to the ministers of the NDA government. While Kumar retained the Home and General Administration departments, Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Chaudhary has been given Finance and Commercial department portfolios. Another Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Sinha, who is also from the BJP, has been given portfolios of Road Construction, Mines and Geology and Art & Culture departments, a notification issued by the Cabinet Secretariat department said on Saturday. Nitish Kumar on Friday expanded his cabinet, which is less than two months old, by inducting 21 new ministers. With the induction of 21 new ministers, the strength of the Nitish Kumar ministry rose to 30, just six short of the constitutional limit of 36 for the state.

Enforcement Directorate conducts fresh searches in Bihar sand mining case

The Enforcement Directorate on Saturday conducted fresh searches in Bihar as part of a money laundering case investigation linked to alleged illegal sand mining in the state, official sources said. The searches are being conducted in an around Arrah town in Bhojpur district. The premises of a businessman and some linked persons are being covered, the sources said. The central agency last week arrested Subhash Yadav, a man allegedly linked to the RJD, in this case. The money laundering case stems from a clutch of 20 FIRs registered by the Bihar Police against a company named Broadsons Commodities Pvt Ltd (BCPL) and its directors alleging they were engaged in illegal mining and sale of sand without using e-challans. Bihar MLC and JD(U) leader Radha Charan Sah, his son Kanhaiya Prasad and directors of Broadsons Commodities like Mithilesh Kumar Singh, Baban Singh and Surendra Kumar Jindal were arrested by the ED last year and they are currently lodged in jail under judicial custody. A

Bihar cabinet expansion: CM Nitish Kumar inducts 21 new ministers

From the JD (U), the ministers include Ashok Choudhary, Leshi Singh, Madan Sahni, Maheshwar Hazari, Sheila Kumari Mandal, Sunil Kumar, Jayant Raj, Zama Khan, and Ratnesh Sada

Nitish expands Bihar cabinet; inducts 21 ministers, including BJP leaders

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Friday expanded his cabinet, which is less than two months old, by inducting 21 ministers. The new inductees, including senior BJP leader and former deputy chief minister Renu Devi, were administered the oath of office by Governor Rajendra Arlekar at a ceremony in the Raj Bhavan. Other notable persons who were sworn in include Mangal Pandey and Neeraj Kumar Singh 'Bablu', both former ministers, belonging to BJP. Besides, Md Zama Khan, who became the lone Muslim in the cabinet, and the chief minister's confidant Ashok Chaudhary, who held cabinet berths earlier, were back as ministers. The fresh induction raises to 30 the total strength of the cabinet formed after the return of Kumar, who heads the JD(U), to the BJP-led NDA less than two months ago. Chants of 'Jai Shri Ram' by leaders of the BJP, which has returned to power, reverberated through the Raj Bhavan during the ceremony.

Nitish, Rabri among 11 elected unopposed to Bihar Legislative Council

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was on Thursday declared elected unopposed to the state legislative council for a fourth consecutive term. Besides Kumar, 10 candidates from different parties, who had stood in the biennial polls to 11 seats of the legislative council, were declared elected unopposed on the last date for withdrawal of nomination papers. Kumar reached the Vidhan Sabha secretariat to collect his certificate, accompanied by close aide Rajiv Ranjan Singh Lalan', whom he succeeded as JD(U) president, and Deputy CMs Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha, both from ally BJP. Others who got elected to the Upper House include former chief minister Rabri Devi (RJD), state minister Santosh Suman (HAM) and former minister Mangal Pandey (BJP).

Indian envoy to UK, other dignitaries meet Bihar CM Nitish in London

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who is currently in London, was on Sunday paid a visit by Vikram K Doraiswami, the Indian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom. Others who came to meet Kumar, who has been abroad for about a week, included Baba Mohinder Singh, the Jathedar of UK Seva Dal, a body of Sikhs, and a number of people from Bihar settled in Britain. According to the office of the chief minister, during the "courtesy call" from Doraiswami, Kumar shared with the envoy his impressions about the renowned science museum in London, which he had visited a few days ago. Kumar also told Doraiswami that a "science city" was coming up in Patna, and it has been named after former president APJ Abdul Kalam. The science city would, among other things, "highlight the contributions in science of ancient India", including the city of Pataliputra, the name by which Patna was known in the distant past. Kumar was greatly impressed with the water management techniques adopted in Scotland,

Kharge as PM candidate: A pre-election gambit

Umbrella parties with no fundamental commitment to OBC or Dalit politics are not known to have gained electorally from such opportunistic pivoting

Bihar govt for amicable resolution with Raj Bhavan over univ jurisdictions

Seeking to downplay the stand-off between the Bihar education department and Raj Bhavan over their jurisdiction in state universities, the Nitish Kumar government on Thursday called for an amicable resolution to issues that might have cropped up. All stakeholders are determined to keep improving the academic atmosphere in the state-run academic institutions in Bihar, Education Minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary said. "Everything is normal and smooth. If any issue crops up, it should be resolved amicably. All are working to create an environment conducive to academic growth by ensuring full utilisation of the existing infrastructural resources," he told PTI. The minister also said that the recent order to freeze bank accounts of all state-run universities has been put on hold. The development came after vice-chancellors did not attend a review meeting called by the education department on February 9. Earlier this month, the Raj Bhavan had also written to banks to overrule that order. Th