Tag: Mahagathbandhan

  • Mahagathbandhan 2.0: Portfolios allocated in Bihar Cabinet; Nitish keeps home, Tejashwi gets health, roads

    By Online Desk

    PATNA: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar retained the all-important home department, giving him direct control over the state police, as portfolios were on Tuesday allocated in the new cabinet.

    Kumar has also kept with himself general administration, cabinet secretariat, election and “any other departments not assigned to others”, said an official communication.

    Deputy CM Tejashwi Prasad Yadav has got key portfolios like health, road construction, urban housing and development and rural works.

    Yadav’s elder brother Tej Pratap Yadav has been given environment, forestry and climate change.

    Besides the CM and the deputy CM, only Vijay Kumar Chaudhary (finance, commercial tax and parliamentary affairs) and Bijendra Yadav (power and planning and development) have got more than one portfolio.

    31 new ministers were inducted into his cabinet, on Tuesday, with the RJD getting a lion’s share, and care having been taken to represent all sections of the society, including the minorities. 

    Among the ministers who took oath, 16 were from RJD, 11 from Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s JD(U), two from Congress, one from ex-CM Jitan Ram Manjhi’s Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) and one Independent. 

    The ministers in the ‘Mahagathbandhan’ government include Vijay Kumar Chaudhary, Tej Pratap Yadav and Alok Mehta. 

    Earlier today, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar reached the Raj Bhavan in Patna for the swearing-in ceremony.

    Ahead of the Cabinet expansion, JDU(U) MLA Leshi Singh on Tuesday confirmed that she will be getting a post in the new cabinet.

    Vijay Kumar Chaudhary, Bijendra Yadav (both JDU), Tej Pratap Yadav, Alok Mehta (both RJD) and Afaque Alam (Congress) took oath in the first batch of the Bihar cabinet expansion.

    Shravan Kumar, Ashok Choudhary, Leshi Singh (all JDU), Surendra Prasad Yadav and Ramanand Yadav (both RJD) also took oath in the second batch of the expansion.

    Sanjay Jha, Madan Sahni (both JDU), Kumar Sarvajeet, Lalit Yadav (both RJD) and Santosh Kumar Suman (HAM) took oath during the third batch of Bihar cabinet expansion.

    Sheela Kumari, Sunil Kumar (both JDU), Samir Kumar Mahaseth, Chandrashekhar (both RJD) and Sumit Kumar Singh (Independent) also took oath in the following batch.

    Mohd Zama Khan, Jayant Raj (both JDU), Jitendra Kumar Rai, Anita Devi and Sudhakar Singh (all RJD) take oath in fifth batch of Bihar cabinet expansion.

    The Bihar cabinet can have up to 36 ministers, including the Chief Minister. Some ministerial berths will be kept vacant for future cabinet expansion, sources said.

    Right after the cabinet expansion, Nitish Kumar said, “The portfolios will be allocated shortly. I will hold a meeting of the entire cabinet today once again.”

    Nitish Kumar had broken away from the BJP and formed a government with the RJD and other parties earlier this month. The Chief Minister and his deputy – RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav – took oath on August 10.

    The number of Muslims in the new cabinet is five, up from only one in the previous NDA government that fell last week after the chief minister severed ties with the BJP. The RJD has, predictably, given a significant number of seven berths to Yadavs.

    It, however, also gave representation to the upper castes in keeping with the wider social outreach by deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav.

    The BJP’s central leadership will hold a meeting with the party’s Bihar unit leaders here on Tuesday, days after the JD(U) parted ways with it and formed a new government in the state.

    They are likely to deliberate upon the BJP’s future course of action, and the strategy for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, sources said, adding organisational changes may also come up for discussion. The meeting will be chaired by BJP national president Jagat Prakash Nadda and the general secretary (organisation) BL Santhosh will also be present.

    The 2020 Assembly polls in Bihar were a tight one with the National Democratic Alliance winning 125 seats, with BJP winning 74 of these, the Janata Dal (United) of Nitish Kumar 43, the Vikassheel Insaan Party 4 and Hindustan Awaam Party (Secular) 4. This put the NDA just above the requisite 122-majority mark needed to form the government.

    The RJD and its allies, on the other hand, had won 110 seats. The RJD finished as the single-largest party with 75 seats, while the Congress won a mere 19 seats. Of the 29 seats the Left parties had contested, they won in 16, with the CPI (ML-Liberation) winning 12 of them. Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM had won five seats in the Seemanchal region of the state. Four of its MLAs have switched to the RJD.

    Party-wise list of ministers in new Bihar cabinet: .

    Nitish Kumar (JDU).

    Tejashwi Yadav (RJD).

    Vijay Kumar Chaudhary (JDU).

    Bijendra Yadav (JDU).

    Shravan Kumar (JDU).

    Ashok Choudhary (JDU).

    Leshi Singh (JDU).

    Sanjay Jha (JDU).

    Madan Sahni (JDU).

    Sheela Kumari (JDU).

    Sunil Kumar (JDU).

    Mohd Zama Khan (JDU)

    Jayant Raj (JDU).

    Tej Pratap Yadav (RJD).

    Alok Mehta (RJD).

    Surendra Prasad Yadav (RJD).

    Ramanand Yadav (RJD).

    Kumar Sarvajeet (RJD) .

    Lalit Yadav (RJD).

    Samir Kumar Mahaseth (RJD).

    Chandrashekhar (RJD).

    Jitendra Kumar Rai (RJD).

    Anita Devi (RJD).

    Sudhakar Singh (RJD).

    Md Israil Mansuri (RJD).

    Surendra Ram (RJD).

    Kartikeya Singh (RJD).

    Shahnawaz Alam (RJD).

    Shamim Ahmed (RJD).

    Afaque Alam (Congress).

    Murari Gautam (Congress).

    Santosh Kumar Suman (HAM).

    Sumit Kumar Singh (Independent) While Nitish Kumar and his deputy were sworn in five days ago on August 10, the remaining 31 ministers took their oath on Tuesday.

    (With inputs from agencies)

    PATNA: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar retained the all-important home department, giving him direct control over the state police, as portfolios were on Tuesday allocated in the new cabinet.

    Kumar has also kept with himself general administration, cabinet secretariat, election and “any other departments not assigned to others”, said an official communication.

    Deputy CM Tejashwi Prasad Yadav has got key portfolios like health, road construction, urban housing and development and rural works.

    Yadav’s elder brother Tej Pratap Yadav has been given environment, forestry and climate change.

    Besides the CM and the deputy CM, only Vijay Kumar Chaudhary (finance, commercial tax and parliamentary affairs) and Bijendra Yadav (power and planning and development) have got more than one portfolio.

    31 new ministers were inducted into his cabinet, on Tuesday, with the RJD getting a lion’s share, and care having been taken to represent all sections of the society, including the minorities. 

    Among the ministers who took oath, 16 were from RJD, 11 from Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s JD(U), two from Congress, one from ex-CM Jitan Ram Manjhi’s Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) and one Independent. 

    The ministers in the ‘Mahagathbandhan’ government include Vijay Kumar Chaudhary, Tej Pratap Yadav and Alok Mehta. 

    Earlier today, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar reached the Raj Bhavan in Patna for the swearing-in ceremony.

    Ahead of the Cabinet expansion, JDU(U) MLA Leshi Singh on Tuesday confirmed that she will be getting a post in the new cabinet.

    Vijay Kumar Chaudhary, Bijendra Yadav (both JDU), Tej Pratap Yadav, Alok Mehta (both RJD) and Afaque Alam (Congress) took oath in the first batch of the Bihar cabinet expansion.

    Shravan Kumar, Ashok Choudhary, Leshi Singh (all JDU), Surendra Prasad Yadav and Ramanand Yadav (both RJD) also took oath in the second batch of the expansion.

    Sanjay Jha, Madan Sahni (both JDU), Kumar Sarvajeet, Lalit Yadav (both RJD) and Santosh Kumar Suman (HAM) took oath during the third batch of Bihar cabinet expansion.

    Sheela Kumari, Sunil Kumar (both JDU), Samir Kumar Mahaseth, Chandrashekhar (both RJD) and Sumit Kumar Singh (Independent) also took oath in the following batch.

    Mohd Zama Khan, Jayant Raj (both JDU), Jitendra Kumar Rai, Anita Devi and Sudhakar Singh (all RJD) take oath in fifth batch of Bihar cabinet expansion.

    The Bihar cabinet can have up to 36 ministers, including the Chief Minister. Some ministerial berths will be kept vacant for future cabinet expansion, sources said.

    Right after the cabinet expansion, Nitish Kumar said, “The portfolios will be allocated shortly. I will hold a meeting of the entire cabinet today once again.”

    Nitish Kumar had broken away from the BJP and formed a government with the RJD and other parties earlier this month. The Chief Minister and his deputy – RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav – took oath on August 10.

    The number of Muslims in the new cabinet is five, up from only one in the previous NDA government that fell last week after the chief minister severed ties with the BJP. The RJD has, predictably, given a significant number of seven berths to Yadavs.

    It, however, also gave representation to the upper castes in keeping with the wider social outreach by deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav.

    The BJP’s central leadership will hold a meeting with the party’s Bihar unit leaders here on Tuesday, days after the JD(U) parted ways with it and formed a new government in the state.

    They are likely to deliberate upon the BJP’s future course of action, and the strategy for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, sources said, adding organisational changes may also come up for discussion. The meeting will be chaired by BJP national president Jagat Prakash Nadda and the general secretary (organisation) BL Santhosh will also be present.

    The 2020 Assembly polls in Bihar were a tight one with the National Democratic Alliance winning 125 seats, with BJP winning 74 of these, the Janata Dal (United) of Nitish Kumar 43, the Vikassheel Insaan Party 4 and Hindustan Awaam Party (Secular) 4. This put the NDA just above the requisite 122-majority mark needed to form the government.

    The RJD and its allies, on the other hand, had won 110 seats. The RJD finished as the single-largest party with 75 seats, while the Congress won a mere 19 seats. Of the 29 seats the Left parties had contested, they won in 16, with the CPI (ML-Liberation) winning 12 of them. Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM had won five seats in the Seemanchal region of the state. Four of its MLAs have switched to the RJD.

    Party-wise list of ministers in new Bihar cabinet: .

    Nitish Kumar (JDU).

    Tejashwi Yadav (RJD).

    Vijay Kumar Chaudhary (JDU).

    Bijendra Yadav (JDU).

    Shravan Kumar (JDU).

    Ashok Choudhary (JDU).

    Leshi Singh (JDU).

    Sanjay Jha (JDU).

    Madan Sahni (JDU).

    Sheela Kumari (JDU).

    Sunil Kumar (JDU).

    Mohd Zama Khan (JDU)

    Jayant Raj (JDU).

    Tej Pratap Yadav (RJD).

    Alok Mehta (RJD).

    Surendra Prasad Yadav (RJD).

    Ramanand Yadav (RJD).

    Kumar Sarvajeet (RJD) .

    Lalit Yadav (RJD).

    Samir Kumar Mahaseth (RJD).

    Chandrashekhar (RJD).

    Jitendra Kumar Rai (RJD).

    Anita Devi (RJD).

    Sudhakar Singh (RJD).

    Md Israil Mansuri (RJD).

    Surendra Ram (RJD).

    Kartikeya Singh (RJD).

    Shahnawaz Alam (RJD).

    Shamim Ahmed (RJD).

    Afaque Alam (Congress).

    Murari Gautam (Congress).

    Santosh Kumar Suman (HAM).

    Sumit Kumar Singh (Independent) While Nitish Kumar and his deputy were sworn in five days ago on August 10, the remaining 31 ministers took their oath on Tuesday.

    (With inputs from agencies)

  • Bihar Chief Minister likely to expand his cabinet on August 16

    Express News Service

    PATNA: Cabinet extension exercise of the newly formed Grand Alliance (GA) or Mahagathbandhan government of chief minister Nitish Kumar is likely to be undertaken on August 16, a week before seeking a trust vote on the floor of the assembly on August 24.

    Deputy chief minister and RJD leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav called on chief minister Nitish Kumar soon after he came to Patna from New Delhi late on Saturday. Sources said the two leaders discussed the portfolios to be allotted to the legislators of the seven constituents of GA.

    Adding a twist to the cabinet expansion exercise, Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi-led AIMIM has demanded that a deputy chief minister should be made from the Muslim community. The lone AIMIM legislator Akhtarul Iman said that the ruling alliance has a maximum vote share of the minority community (Muslim).

    “When ministers are appointed on the basis of caste, accordingly there should be a Muslim Deputy CM,” he asserted. Former chief minister and RJD national president Lalu Prasad Yadav are likely to attend the oath-taking ceremony of the new ministers. Prasad, who had played a significant role in forging the alliance with JD(U) and other non-BJP parties, will reach Patna on Monday.

    Nitish-Tejashwi Yadav government has set formula for allotting one ministerial berth to a party per every 4 MLAs. As per the formula, the RJD will be the party with the most cabinet berths with 18 ministers expected to be inducted from the party into the new cabinet.

    ALSO READ | CPI-ML to extend outside support to JD(U)- RJD government in Bihar  

    Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) is expected to have 12 ministers in the new cabinet. Congress is expected to get four berths. The CPI-ML has decided not to get any ministerial berth in the cabinet and announced to extend its support to the government from outside.

    However, Congress in charge of Bihar Bhakt Charan Das on Sunday said that the party will get three ministerial berths, with two taking oath on August 16 and one more to be inducted in the next cabinet expansion. CPI, CPM and HAM are likely to get one berth each. HAM led by former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi is pressuring for two berths in the new council of ministers. Besides, one Independent legislator is likely to be inducted into the new cabinet.

    Nitish Kumar had claimed that the ruling alliance has the support of 164 MLAs and an Independent legislator. The strength of the Bihar legislative assembly is 243. Sources said that the new Speaker of the assembly will be from RJD. The names of Awadh Bihari Choudhary and Alok Kumar Mehta are doing the rounds for the Speaker’s post. RJD is also eying the home department, which Nitish has kept with him since he became the chief minister.

    ALSO READ | ‘Nitish wanted to protect nexus between PFI, Bihar officials’: BJP attacks Bihar CM

    The Mahagathbandhan government will go for a floor test on August 24. A special session of the legislative assembly has been convened for two days. A new Speaker has to be elected by the legislators of the ruling alliance. The Mahagathbandhan legislators have also moved a ‘no trust’ motion against incumbent

    Speaker Vijay Kumar Sinha is from the BJP quota. Sinha on Sunday said that he would continue to discharge his constitutional duty and would unfurl the tri-colour at Bihar Vidhan Sabha on August 15.

    PATNA: Cabinet extension exercise of the newly formed Grand Alliance (GA) or Mahagathbandhan government of chief minister Nitish Kumar is likely to be undertaken on August 16, a week before seeking a trust vote on the floor of the assembly on August 24.

    Deputy chief minister and RJD leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav called on chief minister Nitish Kumar soon after he came to Patna from New Delhi late on Saturday. Sources said the two leaders discussed the portfolios to be allotted to the legislators of the seven constituents of GA.

    Adding a twist to the cabinet expansion exercise, Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi-led AIMIM has demanded that a deputy chief minister should be made from the Muslim community. The lone AIMIM legislator Akhtarul Iman said that the ruling alliance has a maximum vote share of the minority community (Muslim).

    “When ministers are appointed on the basis of caste, accordingly there should be a Muslim Deputy CM,” he asserted. Former chief minister and RJD national president Lalu Prasad Yadav are likely to attend the oath-taking ceremony of the new ministers. Prasad, who had played a significant role in forging the alliance with JD(U) and other non-BJP parties, will reach Patna on Monday.

    Nitish-Tejashwi Yadav government has set formula for allotting one ministerial berth to a party per every 4 MLAs. As per the formula, the RJD will be the party with the most cabinet berths with 18 ministers expected to be inducted from the party into the new cabinet.

    ALSO READ | CPI-ML to extend outside support to JD(U)- RJD government in Bihar  

    Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) is expected to have 12 ministers in the new cabinet. Congress is expected to get four berths. The CPI-ML has decided not to get any ministerial berth in the cabinet and announced to extend its support to the government from outside.

    However, Congress in charge of Bihar Bhakt Charan Das on Sunday said that the party will get three ministerial berths, with two taking oath on August 16 and one more to be inducted in the next cabinet expansion. CPI, CPM and HAM are likely to get one berth each. HAM led by former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi is pressuring for two berths in the new council of ministers. Besides, one Independent legislator is likely to be inducted into the new cabinet.

    Nitish Kumar had claimed that the ruling alliance has the support of 164 MLAs and an Independent legislator. The strength of the Bihar legislative assembly is 243. Sources said that the new Speaker of the assembly will be from RJD. The names of Awadh Bihari Choudhary and Alok Kumar Mehta are doing the rounds for the Speaker’s post. RJD is also eying the home department, which Nitish has kept with him since he became the chief minister.

    ALSO READ | ‘Nitish wanted to protect nexus between PFI, Bihar officials’: BJP attacks Bihar CM

    The Mahagathbandhan government will go for a floor test on August 24. A special session of the legislative assembly has been convened for two days. A new Speaker has to be elected by the legislators of the ruling alliance. The Mahagathbandhan legislators have also moved a ‘no trust’ motion against incumbent

    Speaker Vijay Kumar Sinha is from the BJP quota. Sinha on Sunday said that he would continue to discharge his constitutional duty and would unfurl the tri-colour at Bihar Vidhan Sabha on August 15.

  • JP movement to Advani rath yatra: How Bihar events have influenced national politics!

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Bihar is no stranger to being at the centre of a tectonic shift in national politics fuelled by turbulent regional forces.

    On Tuesday, a day filled with high drama, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar severed ties with ally BJP and embraced the Mahagathbandhan or grand alliance, bringing the spotlight on Bihar and its complex matrix of politics.

    From the landmark Bihar movement led by students in 1970s that emanated from Patna to stopping of Lal Krishna Advani’s Ayodhya rath yatra by then chief minister Lalu Yadav in Samastipur, these events have set off a chain of reactions that resulted in major ruptures in the realm of nation politics, throwing ruling parties out of seats of power or leading to rise of unexpected and at times unstable alliances.

    The Bihar movement, which eventually came to be known as the JP movement as veteran socialist leader Jayaprakash Narayan spearheaded it, had a ripple effect from Patna to Delhi and the echoes of his fiery speeches at Gandhi Maidan in the Bihar capital had reverberations in Ramlila Maidan in the national capital.

    Narayan’s Bihar movement during the turbulent 70s eventually led to the Emergency from 1975-77.

    He exhorted college and university students in the state to throw themselves into what he had envisaged as a massive churn of Indian politics against corruption.

    Under the firebrand JP, the agitation in Bihar took the shape of a Sampoorna Kranti or total revolution and the initial demand for resignation of the then Ghafoor government in the state ultimately turned into a larger demand for dismissal of Indira Gandhi government.

    After the Emergency was over and general elections were held, Congress was ousted and a Janata Party-led government came into power with Morarji Desai as the prime minister.

    The JP movement has had such personal and emotional impact on many that Nitish Kumar, Lalu Yadav, Sushil Kumar Modi and Sharad Yadav, all of whom were engrossed in students politics back then, often describe themselves as “product of JP movement”.

    Both Lalu Yadav and Nitish Kumar, who perhaps bonded during the student movement, have had ‘friend-turned-foe-turned-friend’ moments in their careers, which also has impacted both regional and in turn national politics.

    RJD and JD(U), both descendants of the Janata Dal party, play a crucial role when it comes to stitching power alliances to form a government.

    And as Kumar returns to the Mahagathbandhan, from which he had walked out of in 2017 post the 2015 elections, many have also begun to speculate if the move will have ramifications on the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

    Many student leaders in Patna, PTI spoke to, concurred that “this type of political crisis being seen currently is not new to Bihar” and “this instability” has impacted both regional and national politics.

    Aman Lal, student activist from Patna University and a member of All India Student Federation which will mark its 86th foundation day on August 12, said, “leaving aside the tenure of Sri Krishna Singh in the initial days (till 1961) in Bihar after Independence, the chief ministers who succeeded him, could not complete their terms.

    Only Lalu Prasad in 90s could complete his term, and then Nitish Kumar is the longest-serving CM of Bihar since 2005.

    ” Experts feel that big political leaders from Bihar have had a national aura largely, and that is also perhaps a factor due to which “what happens in Bihar, impacts India”.

    Besides, Jayaprakash Narayan, K B Sahay, Karpoori Thakur, Daroga Prasad Rai, B P Mandal, all of these were state leaders but also national leaders.

    Mandal Commission set up in 1979, and chaired by B P Mandal, who briefly served as chief minister of Bihar in late 1960s, had a massive impact throughout India, and protests were held, and many even attempted self-immolation.

    But, perhaps the event that led to stopping of the rath yatra by Advani in 1990 is one of key moments in political history of both Bihar and India at large, given the significance and sensitivity of the Ram Temple issue.

    The BJP patriarch had started the yatra from Somnath in Gujarat and was to culminate at Ayodhya.

    His swanky vehicle entered Bihar through areas which now fall in Jharkhand, amid chants of ‘Mandir wahin banayege’.

    Sensing it might trigger disturbance in communal harmony, then chief minister Lalu Yadav ordered IAS officer R K Singh to arrest Advani.

    BJP was then propping up the V P Singh government and arresting Advani could have led to its fall and set off a chain of violence.

    Singh halted the rath yatra in Samastipur in north Bihar and arrested Advani, prompting the BJP to withdraw support to V P Singh’s National Front government and resulting in its collapse.

    The event paved the way for the emergence of the saffron party as a formidable force on the country’s political firmament.

    Ironically, he later became a joint secretary in the union home ministry when Advani headed it.

    Kumar on Wednesday took oath as Bihar chief minister for the record eighth time at a no-frills ceremony held at Raj Bhavan in Patna.

    Soon after being sworn in, he asserted that the NDA government at the Centre led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi needs to “worry” about its prospects in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

    He also rubbished the BJP’s claim that the new government will not last its full term and said his former ally “will be back where they were after the 2015 assembly polls”.

    Poll strategist Prashant Kishor in Patna told TV channels that Kumar was not comfortable in the alliance with the BJP and that is why he moved from one political formation to the other.

    How the current state of affairs in Bihar will play out in the long run, only time will tell.

    PTI KND ZMN 08101829 NNNN

    NEW DELHI: Bihar is no stranger to being at the centre of a tectonic shift in national politics fuelled by turbulent regional forces.

    On Tuesday, a day filled with high drama, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar severed ties with ally BJP and embraced the Mahagathbandhan or grand alliance, bringing the spotlight on Bihar and its complex matrix of politics.

    From the landmark Bihar movement led by students in 1970s that emanated from Patna to stopping of Lal Krishna Advani’s Ayodhya rath yatra by then chief minister Lalu Yadav in Samastipur, these events have set off a chain of reactions that resulted in major ruptures in the realm of nation politics, throwing ruling parties out of seats of power or leading to rise of unexpected and at times unstable alliances.

    The Bihar movement, which eventually came to be known as the JP movement as veteran socialist leader Jayaprakash Narayan spearheaded it, had a ripple effect from Patna to Delhi and the echoes of his fiery speeches at Gandhi Maidan in the Bihar capital had reverberations in Ramlila Maidan in the national capital.

    Narayan’s Bihar movement during the turbulent 70s eventually led to the Emergency from 1975-77.

    He exhorted college and university students in the state to throw themselves into what he had envisaged as a massive churn of Indian politics against corruption.

    Under the firebrand JP, the agitation in Bihar took the shape of a Sampoorna Kranti or total revolution and the initial demand for resignation of the then Ghafoor government in the state ultimately turned into a larger demand for dismissal of Indira Gandhi government.

    After the Emergency was over and general elections were held, Congress was ousted and a Janata Party-led government came into power with Morarji Desai as the prime minister.

    The JP movement has had such personal and emotional impact on many that Nitish Kumar, Lalu Yadav, Sushil Kumar Modi and Sharad Yadav, all of whom were engrossed in students politics back then, often describe themselves as “product of JP movement”.

    Both Lalu Yadav and Nitish Kumar, who perhaps bonded during the student movement, have had ‘friend-turned-foe-turned-friend’ moments in their careers, which also has impacted both regional and in turn national politics.

    RJD and JD(U), both descendants of the Janata Dal party, play a crucial role when it comes to stitching power alliances to form a government.

    And as Kumar returns to the Mahagathbandhan, from which he had walked out of in 2017 post the 2015 elections, many have also begun to speculate if the move will have ramifications on the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

    Many student leaders in Patna, PTI spoke to, concurred that “this type of political crisis being seen currently is not new to Bihar” and “this instability” has impacted both regional and national politics.

    Aman Lal, student activist from Patna University and a member of All India Student Federation which will mark its 86th foundation day on August 12, said, “leaving aside the tenure of Sri Krishna Singh in the initial days (till 1961) in Bihar after Independence, the chief ministers who succeeded him, could not complete their terms.

    Only Lalu Prasad in 90s could complete his term, and then Nitish Kumar is the longest-serving CM of Bihar since 2005.

    ” Experts feel that big political leaders from Bihar have had a national aura largely, and that is also perhaps a factor due to which “what happens in Bihar, impacts India”.

    Besides, Jayaprakash Narayan, K B Sahay, Karpoori Thakur, Daroga Prasad Rai, B P Mandal, all of these were state leaders but also national leaders.

    Mandal Commission set up in 1979, and chaired by B P Mandal, who briefly served as chief minister of Bihar in late 1960s, had a massive impact throughout India, and protests were held, and many even attempted self-immolation.

    But, perhaps the event that led to stopping of the rath yatra by Advani in 1990 is one of key moments in political history of both Bihar and India at large, given the significance and sensitivity of the Ram Temple issue.

    The BJP patriarch had started the yatra from Somnath in Gujarat and was to culminate at Ayodhya.

    His swanky vehicle entered Bihar through areas which now fall in Jharkhand, amid chants of ‘Mandir wahin banayege’.

    Sensing it might trigger disturbance in communal harmony, then chief minister Lalu Yadav ordered IAS officer R K Singh to arrest Advani.

    BJP was then propping up the V P Singh government and arresting Advani could have led to its fall and set off a chain of violence.

    Singh halted the rath yatra in Samastipur in north Bihar and arrested Advani, prompting the BJP to withdraw support to V P Singh’s National Front government and resulting in its collapse.

    The event paved the way for the emergence of the saffron party as a formidable force on the country’s political firmament.

    Ironically, he later became a joint secretary in the union home ministry when Advani headed it.

    Kumar on Wednesday took oath as Bihar chief minister for the record eighth time at a no-frills ceremony held at Raj Bhavan in Patna.

    Soon after being sworn in, he asserted that the NDA government at the Centre led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi needs to “worry” about its prospects in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

    He also rubbished the BJP’s claim that the new government will not last its full term and said his former ally “will be back where they were after the 2015 assembly polls”.

    Poll strategist Prashant Kishor in Patna told TV channels that Kumar was not comfortable in the alliance with the BJP and that is why he moved from one political formation to the other.

    How the current state of affairs in Bihar will play out in the long run, only time will tell.

    PTI KND ZMN 08101829 NNNN

  • LJD split means Chirag Paswan to join forces with Tejashwi Yadav?

    Express News Service
    PATNA: In the wake of a spilt in Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) as a result of a feud in Paswan family, politics in Bihar is likely to get a new equation. The parties aligned with the opposition Mahagathbandhan are learnt to have started making efforts to bring Chirag Paswan- son of LJP founder (Late) Ram Vilas Paswan to their fold silently eyeing at the strong 6% vote bank of his party.

    Such a move would be possible when Chirag Paswan, is left fending for himself by the NDA allies post a leadership coup by his own uncle and Hajipur MP Pashupati Kumar Paras. Reliable sources said that a new equation can be developed with the joining of Chirag Paswan-led faction of LJP in Bihar to oust the NDA from office.

    “This might be RJD’s equation of MYP — Muslim, Yadav and Paswan — created against NDA. And if this political initiative succeeds, it could prove to be very damaging to the NDA”, said local political analysts.

    “Certainly, efforts are being taken for the emergence of a new equation-MYP, which will prove hard to handle for the NDA as Muslim constitutes 17 % of electoral strength of state followed by 16 by Yadav and 6 % by Paswan”, observed political observer Arun Kumar Pandey.

    More than 25 lakhs votes were polled to the LJP in the 2020 assembly elections under the leadership of Chirag Paswan securing 6% votes. The speculation for the emergence of new MY-P equation is rife in the political circles of both NDA and the Mahagathbandhan. 

    Observers think the current situation gives Chirag Paswan the option of being a part of opposition politics now, which will help him ahead in the elections. “If NDA government collapse and mid-term elections become unavoidable, the MY-P equation, subject to its formation depending upon future political alignments, will have a major edge over the NDA”, said AK Mishra, another political analyst.

  • Tejashwi files nomination, promises 10 lakh jobs in 1st cabinet meet of Mahagathbandhan govt

    Ahead of filing nomination from Raghopur constituency in the upcoming Bihar Assembly Elections, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav on Wednesday said that after coming to power, the first thing that the “Mahagathbandhan” government will do is to sanction jobs for 10 lakh youth in its first Cabinet meet.

    Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav sought the blessings of his mother Rabri Devi and elder brother Tej Pratap Yadav. He will file nomination from Raghopur today, for the upcoming polls. Rabri Devi said, “People of Bihar and everyone in the party are missing Lalu ji.”

    Speaking to media Tejashwi said, “Today I am going to file nomination from Raghopur, the people of Raghopur have always supported us. The people will once again support us. If we form the government, the first thing we will do at the first Cabinet meet is to sanction jobs for 10 lakh youth. These will be government jobs and permanent in nature.”

    “I promise to meet the demands for equal pay for equal work, which the employed teachers have been making for a long time, as soon as our government is formed,” he added.