oppn parties After Prashant Kishor's Cryptic Tweet, All Eyes Are On Bihar

News Snippets

  • Supreme Court questions the continuing relevance of two-child norms. The Court observed that falling fertility rates have weakened the population-control rationale behind laws disqualifying people with more than two children from contesting local body elections. It referred the issue to a larger Bench for consideration
  • Supreme Court declines to shift Tirupati laddu case outside Andhra Pradesh. The Court rejected a plea seeking transfer of the trial, despite arguments that political statements by Andhra Pradesh's Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister could affect the fairness of proceedings
  • Supreme Court transfers Azam Khan's fresh ED bail plea to Allahabad High Court. The apex court declined to consider the Samajwadi Party leader's bail request in a fresh Enforcement Directorate case and directed that it be listed before a division Bench of the High Court on November 16
  • Two killed in Delhi building collapse; contractor booked. Two bodies were recovered after a building collapsed in Chawri Bazaar. Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said the contractor had been booked and the concerned junior and assistant engineers suspended
  • Uttar Pradesh voter rolls show a 2.4-crore discrepancy. A difference of approximately 2.4 crore names has been reported between the state's panchayat and rural Assembly voter lists. The Election Commission has ordered the two sets of rolls to be matched
  • Gujarat announces 3% dearness allowance hike. The state government announced a three-percentage-point increase in dearness allowance for government employees and pensioners ahead of Diwali
  • Sensex and Nifty post their strongest single-day gains in months. The Sensex surged 2,008.61 points, or 2.60%, to close at 79,310.01, while the Nifty 50 climbed 576 points, or 2.40%, to 24,536.60. Financial and automobile stocks led the rally, supported by falling crude prices and renewed foreign investor buying
  • Maaya Rajeshwaran reaches WTA-level quarter-final. The 17-year-old Indian defeated Poland's Weronika Falkowska 6-4, 6-3, becoming the first Indian woman since Sania Mirza in 2012 to reach a quarter-final at a WTA Tour-level singles event
  • Tanvi Patri reaches Youth Olympics badminton final. The 15-year-old defeated Japan's Yuzuno Watanabe in the semi-final, assuring India of a medal and becoming the first Indian badminton player to reach the girls' singles final at the Youth Olympics
  • India beat Pakistan 3-2 in SAFF Championship. India defeated Pakistan in a closely contested match, having led 3-0 before conceding two late goals. The victory was reported as a significant result for India's second-string side
  • India beat Japan 4-1 to win a record sixth Asian Champions Trophy. India recovered from an early deficit to defeat Japan in the final at Mohali, extending its record as the tournament's most successful men's team
  • The Supreme Court issued notice to the Centre and the Election Commission on a petition challenging Section 16 of the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Act, 2023, which grants the CEC and Election Commissioners protection from legal proceedings for acts performed in their official duties. The petition argues that such blanket immunity could leave citizens without an effective remedy for alleged wrongdoing by the Commission
  • The Supreme Court told voters whose names were deleted from Delhi's draft electoral rolls not to be apprehensive about seeking re-enrolment through Form 6, after the Election Commission assured it that such applicants would not be prosecuted merely because their names had appeared in earlier rolls
  • Congress leader Rahul Gandhi opened the party's campaign for the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections with an Insaaf rally in Sangrur, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's home district, accusing the AAP government of failing to control drugs, gangster violence and corruption. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge outlined six commitments, including a drug-free Punjab, protection of farmers, employment for young people and action against corruption
  • Rahul Gandhi accused the AAP government of running Punjab through a remote control from Delhi and questioned Bhagwant Mann's ability to tackle drug abuse, making personal allegations about the Chief Minister's conduct during their time together in Parliament
Stock markets on fire due to US results, Sensex gains 2008 points to reach its highest level in 8 months
oppn parties
After Prashant Kishor's Cryptic Tweet, All Eyes Are On Bihar

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2022-05-03 08:57:08

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator. Author of Cyber Scams in India, Digital Arrest, The Money Trap and The Human Hack

After the 'experiment' with the Congress failed to materialize, celebrated and most sought-after poll strategist Prashant Kishore is now thinking of approaching the people - whom he called the Real Masters in a tweet - directly and his journey will begin from his home state Bihar. Kishor is likely to hold a press conference in Patna to announce his plans. In the meantime, he is meeting members of the civil society in the state.

Kishor had earlier joined the JD(U) and was made the vice president of the party by Nitish Kumar before the two fell out in January 2020 after Kishor criticized home minister Amit Shah over CAA and NRC and also questioned JD(U)'s stand on both the issues. He was sacked from the party. Then he started 'Baat Bihar Ki', a campaign for ushering in good governance in the state but it fizzled out soon. This time too, Kishor has said that he is taking the path of "Jan Suraj - People's Good Governance".

Hence, it is not clear whether he is joining politics or is creating a pressure group to influence government policy through agitations. Political circles in Bihar are abuzz about an imminent realignment of forces in the state because Nitish Kumar chose not to attend the Central meeting of chief ministers and top judges and was seen with RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav at many iftars. With Kishor also landing up in Patna at this time, is a mahagathbandhan of JD(U), RJD and Kishor brewing? Meanwhile, senior BJP leader Sushil Modi, while commenting on Kishor's tweet, said that there is no space for another political party in Bihar.

With BJP expanding its bases in the state and with Nitish Kumar feeling threatened as he is the junior partner (with lesser MLAs) in the alliance, it cannot be guessed what he will do. Although there is also a buzz that Kumar might run for the Vice President's office that has not been confirmed by any source. A hint about any possible future realignments might emerge after Kishor's announcement on May 5 but one thing is sure - Bihar politics is heading for a reset.