BJP no longer 'big brother'? Nitish Kumar, Bihar allies become assertive

After Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP's) recent bypoll defeats across the country and its own loss in Jokihat, the Janata Dal (United), or JD(U), may be trying to project itself as more than just the saffron party's junior partner in Bihar with a senior party leader stating that Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was the face of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the state.

"Nitish Kumar is the face of the NDA in Bihar, that is why he is the chief minister. JD(U) is the largest constituent of the coalition," party National Secretary Pavan Varma said after the JD(U) core committee meet in Patna on Sunday. (Read more here)

Party spokesperson Ajay Alok also spoke on similar lines after the meet. "Nitish Kumar is the face of NDA alliance in Bihar," he said.

Last week, the Rashtriya Janata Dal wrested the Jokihat Assembly seat from the JD(U) and registered victory by a huge margin of over 41,000 votes.

JD(U) appears to have changed the way it deals with the BJP as the party has recently attacked the Centre on several issues.

Bihar molestation case: Fighting off attackers, girl finds no help; 4 held

The Jehanabad Bihar molestation case has seen four persons being arrested so far, police said on Monday. The case shocked the nation after the video of the incident went viral on social media sites. The video, which was captured by a local, shows a minor girl being hounded and molested by a group of youths in broad daylight. The incident took place on Saturday, the police said.
Jehanabad's Superintendent of Police Manish Kumar said a special investigation team (SIT) arrested four of the accused. "Others have been identified and a hunt is on to arrest them," he said. The SIT also seized a motorbike seen in the video. 4 people arrested in connection with the case. Nayyar Hasnain Khan, Patna Zonal IG, told news agencies that "faces of two people have been matched with the people in the video... four or five other people have been named by them". He added that a search operation is underway.

According to police official Shayam Sundar Singh, an FIR was lodged against seven people involved in the case. Further, two SITs have also been constituted to investigate the incident.
According to the Hindustan Times, the survivor of the molestation is a 14-year-old girl.

Onlookers abandon survivor to her fate:
Some onlookers shot a video of the incident instead of helping the minor girl, all the while she pleaded with the men and resisted their attacks, News18 reported. According to the report's details of the video, the girl tried to fight back as six or seven men tried to rip apart her clothes while lifting her off her feet. The girl kept looking at the camera and crying for help as the video continued to be shot without any hindrance.

Bihar, UP by-poll result LIVE: Samajwadi Party wins Phulpur by 59,613 votes

UP by-poll result - Candidates of the Samajwadi party consolidated their leads over nearest BJP competitors in Gorakhpur and Phulpur Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh, ultra-modern developments confirmed. The Samajwadi party had an electoral understanding with Mayawati's BSP and tied up with local satraps. Its candidate Pravin Nishad turned into leading over Upendra Dutt Shukla of BJP by 26,510 votes in Gorakhpur on the stop of 17th spherical of counting.

In Phulpur too, SP candidate Nagendra Pratap Singh Patel become leading by using 29,474 votes after 20th round of counting.

With some greater rounds of counting still being left, the overall picture seemed that the citizens did no longer lower back the saffron party in advance of the 2019 Lok Sabha election.


The bypolls were necessitated after chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and his Deputy leader Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya vacated the Gorakhpur and Phulpur Lok Sabha seats respectively, following their election to the nation legislative council.

Fodder scam: No relief for Lalu, SC orders trial for criminal conspiracy

In a major blow to the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, the Supreme Court today allowed a plea by CBI opposing dropping of charges against him by Jharkhand High Court in the Rs 1000 crore fodder scam case.

Lalu Prasad Yadav will be tried on criminal charges for corruption during his term as Chief Minister of Bihar, the Supreme Court ruled today, rejecting his request for the more grave charges including criminal conspiracy to be deleted.

The apex court, while setting aside the 2014 order which had stayed the trial against Yadav after conviction in one of the cases, said the high court should have been consistent in its findings and not have given different views for different sets of accused in a case.

It also pulled up the CBI for delay in filing appeal against the high court order in the case and said the probe agency's director should have looked into this important matter and deputed an officer to pursue the case.

The CBI has challenged the 2014 order of the Jharkhand High Court quashing four pending fodder scam cases against him on the grounds that a person convicted in one case could not be tried in similar cases based on same witnesses and evidences.

The court earlier on April 20 reserved its judgement in the case and asked all parties concerned to give their submissions within a week.

The court also heard the plea filed by the former Bihar chief minister challenging his jail sentence in connection with the case.

The CBI had filed a plea in the apex court against the dropping of a conspiracy charge against Lalu Prasad by the Jharkhand High Court in one of the fodder scam cases.

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