BJP chief Amit Shah, Nitish Kumar lay ground work for 2019 Lok Sabha battle

If the broad understanding reached between Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah and Janata Dal (United) chief Nitish Kumar over their breakfast meeting in Patna on Thursday holds firm in the coming months, the 2019 Lok Sabha polls could see the JD(U) contesting on less than a dozen of the state’s 40 Lok Sabha seats.

People with knowledge of the matter said top BJP and JD(U) leaders also discussed the possibility of holding the assembly polls in Bihar more than 18 months ahead of schedule, along with the Lok Sabha polls. If the BJP gets to contest the majority of Bihar’s Lok Sabha seats, the JD(U) could get to contest the lion’s share of the state’s 243 assembly seats. The BJP leadership recognised Kumar as the leader of the coalition in Bihar.

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 bus accident: How the official death toll came down from 27 to zero

The Bihar bus accident that was reported and confirmed by the state government to have claimed more than two dozen lives has turned out to be a major goof-up on the part of the authorities. A day after confirming 27 deaths in the accident, the Bihar Disaster Management Minister Dinesh Chandra Yadav backtracked on Friday, saying there were no deaths in the accident.

"Yes, I said 27 people have died. It was based on info from local sources, but I also said that only final report will be considered," Yadav told ANI.

The mix-up over the death toll arose from the confusion over the number of passengers travelling in the bus that overturned and caught fire at NH-28 in Bihar's East Champaran district. The private AC bus was on its way to Delhi from Muzzafarpur in Bihar.

Earlier reports had indicated that a total of 32 passengers were travelling in the private bus.

But, now it has emerged that only 13 passengers, besides the driver and a helper, were inside the bus when the accident took place.

"A total of 32 passengers had booked their seats in the private bus, out of whom only 13 had boarded at Muzaffarpur and the remaining were likely to catch the vehicle at Gopalganj," PTI cited regional news channel reports.

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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270 days after Bihar liquor ban, major crimes up 13%

During a recent visit to Bihar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for his Bihar Alcohol Ban policy in Bihar. He said: “I greet Nitish Kumar from the core of my heart for launching a campaign against liquor. But, this work (prohibition) would not be a grand success only by efforts of Nitish Kumar or one party. All the political parties, social organisations and citizens have to participate in it to make it a ‘jan-jan ka andolan‘ (people’s movement).”

In April 2016, Kumar announced a ban on the sale and consumption of country liquor in the state. The ban was one of Kumar’s key poll promises made to women voters–who rallied behind him strongly, as this Mint report indicates–during the 2015 assembly elections.

Thirty days after the ban, Kumar claimed that the crime was down 27% , according to his analysis of crime data from April 2016 and April 2015.

Nine months–or 270 days–into the ban, an IndiaSpend analysis of Bihar Police crime data, reveals that cognizable crime–which the police can investigate without a magistrate’s order–rose 13% between April and October 2016, from 14,279 in April to 16,153 in October.(Read More)