JDU

Ten regional parties, including the DMK, BJD, YSR Congress, JDU and the AAP, have declared receiving Rs Rs 852.88 crore donations through electoral bonds in 2021-22, according to an NGO working for electoral reforms. The total income of 36 regional parties for the financial year was Rs 1,213 crore, the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) said in a report, citing official data. The report analysed the total income and expenditure incurred by 36 out of 54 regional parties during 2021-22, as declared by these parties in their audit reports submitted to the Election Commission on India. "Ten regional parties -- DMK, BJD, TRS, YSR-Congress, JDU, SP, AAP, SAD, MGP and TDP -- have declared receiving donations through electoral bonds worth Rs 852.88 crore...for 2021-22," it said. The TRS (Telangana Rashtra Samithi) has subsequently renamed as the Bharat Rashtra Samithi. The party is in power in Telangana. The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), which is currently in power in Tamil Nadu

RJD MLA Sudhakar Singh once again targetted Nitish Kumar by terming him the "biggest obstacle" in the path of Tejashwi Yadav taking over as Bihar Chief Minister

The Nitish Kumar government in Bihar on Tuesday presented a Rs 2.61 lakh crore budget, asserting that the state's finances were in a good shape as evident from markers like the fiscal deficit being under the prescribed conditional limit. Tabling the budget before the state assembly, Finance Minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary also flagged concerns like a drop in grants in aid received from the Centre, compared to the previous year, though Bihar's share in central taxes saw a rise. The total proposed budget expenditure of Rs 2,61,885.40 crore, for the year 2023-24, was Rs 24,194.21 crore more than the previous financial year. The state government also cited fiscal achievements like the fiscal deficit remaining at 3.78 per cent of the SGDP, which is under the prescribed conditional limit of 4.5 per cent. The budget pointed out that the grants in aid expected from the Centre for the current fiscal was estimated at Rs 53,377.92 crore, which was Rs 4,623.37 crore less" than what was received

BJP Rajya Sabha member and former Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi on Monday said that Upendra Kushwaha's quitting the JD-U is not a normal incident

Addressing a press conference here, he said that the decision was taken after the two day meeting of his supporters in Sinha Library here

Notably, Upendra Kushwaha has convened two days open session of his supporter in Patna on February 19-20 to discuss the prevailing situation in JDU

JD(U) national president Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan on Monday asserted that disgruntled leader Upendra Kushwaha has ceased to be the chairman of the party's parliamentary board. Lalan said Kushwaha was, now, "only a JDU MLC" though the former Union minister could get "re-nominated" to the top party post, subject to "continuance and commitment" (agar party mein rahenge, man se rahenge). "Only the national president was elected at the party's national executive meet held in December. No other office-bearer has since been appointed. So, Kushwaha is, technically, not the parliamentary board chief now," said Lalan. Notably, Kushwaha had been holding the top party post since March, 2021, when he returned to the JD(U) merging his Rashtriya Lok Samata Party. Welcoming him into the party, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, the supreme leader, had in a rare gesture announced forthwith that Kushwaha shall be the chairman of the parliamentary board. Lalan's averment comes close on the hee

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday asserted that the JD(U)'s realignment with the BJP half a decade ago, which came to an abrupt end last year, had been to the detriment of his party. The JD(U) leader was replying to queries from journalists in Banka district, which he visited as part of the Samadhan Yatra' mass outreach programme. He was asked about the open letter to the party cadre from disgruntled parliamentary board chief Upendra Kushwaha, who has convened a two-day meeting next week to discuss the gradual erosion of support base of the JD(U) and anxieties over a rumoured deal with the RJD, its current ally. A visibly peeved Kumar sought to remind Kushwaha that the latter has been always rewarded by the party despite having ditched it repeatedly and if he keeps airing his grievances in public then it will be construed as he has other plans for himself. When asked whether he thought Kushwaha was forcing his hand at the BJP's behest, Kumar replied cryptically, You can d

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday ruled out the possibility of a realignment with the BJP, asserting that he will "rather die than join hands" with his former ally. The JD(U) leader also reminded the saffron party that while in alliance it used to get votes of all his supporters, including Muslims who have always been "wary" of the BJP's Hindutva ideology. He also scoffed at the BJP's claim that it would win 36 out of the 40 Lok Sabha seats in the state next year. Kumar reiterated that his return to the NDA in 2017, following "baseless" corruption cases against his deputy Tejashwi Yadav and the latter's father Lalu Prasad, was a "mistake".

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Kushwaha retorted saying that he could not leave the party without his share in the 'paternal property'

Janata Dal (United) president Lalan Singh on Thursday expressed his inability to attend the concluding event of the Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Yatra in Srinagar on January 30 and asked the Congress to take appropriate steps to unite the opposition. In a letter to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Singh cited his scheduled engagement for a political programme in poll-bound Nagaland to skip the Yatra's conclusion. Though the Congress has invited heads of several non-BJP parties to attend the event to finish the mega exercised aimed at rejuvenating its organisation in the run up to the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, it remains to be seen how many of them turn up. Some regional party chiefs may send others to represent their organisation at a time when the opposition is itself divided over what shape any such alliance against the BJP should take and who should be spearheading it. Singh said, "My party sincerely feels that the need of the hour is an unified opposition and expects that the

"Poster" politics in Bihar is a regular affair and every party is uses it as a tool to target leaders of opposing parties as well as within the party

Yadav, a veteran politician and former JD(U) chief, died on Thursday at a private hospital in Gurugram

Separated by age, experience and politics, yet joined by a shared purpose: taking on BJP in 2024. Satyavrat Mishra analyses the political pulls and pressures in the state

He has got the backing of his party to push ahead with Opposition unity. But that may not be enough

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Sunday accused the BJP of working against the JD(U) in the 2020 assembly elections despite being in an alliance at that time. He reaffirmed that parties opposed to the BJP can win with a "huge majority" in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls if they agree to join hands. Addressing the plenary session of his Janata Dal (United) here, Kumar alleged that his party's unsatisfactory performance in the last assembly elections was because of the then alliance partner BJP. "They (BJP) should be reminded that never before had our party won fewer seats, either in assembly polls of 2005 or 2010. In 2020, we suffered as they tried to ensure the defeat of our candidates," said the JD(U) de facto leader about his former alliance partner which he did not mention by name. The longest-serving chief minister of the state recounted his reluctance to run for another term in office but agreeing to do the same upon the BJP's insistence. "But Bihar was not getting anything (fro

JDU leader K C Tyagi on Sunday urged voters of Himachal Pradesh to elect a Congress government in the state to lay the foundation of opposition unity ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. He said there is a need for a strong alternative to the BJP and only the Congress can defeat the saffron party. "There is a need for a strong alternative to the BJP for which Bihar Chief minister Nitish Kumar has launched a campaign. Himachal Pradesh elections are important because it will lay the foundation of the opposition campaign for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls," he said in a press conference at the Congress office here. "If the Congress wins from here then it will prove to be a milestone for the 2024 Lok Sabha election," he said. "The Congress victory here will clear the path for opposition in 2024 polls," he later told PTI. Tyagi, who is the general secretary of the JDU, which has now switched sides and is in a coalition government in Bihar with RJD and Congress, said he did not agree with .

Senior JD (U) leader Upendra Kushwaha alleged that the BJP was against reservation for backward classes and the people of Bihar are aware of the saffron party's stance. He also claimed that fresh guidelines issued by the University Grants Commission (UGC) for creating a new teaching position are opposed to quotas. "The UGC guidelines under which higher education institutes can create a new teaching position called 'Professor of Practice' to hire experts from various sectors are against reservations for backward classes. They (BJP) have already recruited 40 people under this new category but not even a single person has been appointed as 'Professor of Practice' from the backward classes," Kushwaha told reporters here on Saturday. "It's a conspiracy of the BJP to recruit RSS sympathisers from the backdoor and deprive backward classes of their rights," said Kushwaha, the JD(U) parliamentary board chief. On BJP's allegation that the Bihar government failing to comply with a Supreme Cou

The Janata Dal-United (JDU) unit of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Delhi in the presence of party chief JP Nadda