oppn parties No Stopping Nitish Kumar

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  • A Delhi court directed the investigating agencies to senstize officers to collect nail clippings, fingernail scrappings or finger swab in order to get DNA profile as direct evidence of sexual attack is often not present and might result in an offender going scot free
  • Uniform Civil Code rules cleared by state cabinet, likely to be implemented in the next 10 days
  • Supreme Court reiterates that there is no point in arresting the accused after the chargesheet has been filed and the investigation is complete
  • Kolkata court sentences Sanjoy Roy, the sole accused in the R G Kar rape-murder case, to life term. West Bengal government and CBI to appeal in HC for the death penalty
  • Supreme Court stays criminal defamation case against Rahul Gandhi for his remarks against home minister Amit Shah in Jharkhand during the AICC plenary session
  • Government reviews import basket to align it with the policies of the Trump administration
  • NCLT orders liquidation of GoAir airlines
  • Archery - Indian archers bagged 2 silver in Nimes Archery tournament in France
  • Stocks make impressive gain on Monday - Sensex adds 454 points to 77073 and Nifty 141 points to 23344
  • D Gukesh draws with Fabiano Caruana in the Tata Steel chess tournament in the Netherlands
  • Women's U-19 T20 WC - In a stunning game, debutants Nigeria beat New Zealand by 2 runs
  • Rohit Sharma to play under Ajinkye Rahane in Mumbai's Ranji match against J&K
  • Virat Kohli to play in Delhi's last group Ranji trophy match against Saurashtra. This will be his first Ranji match in 12 years
  • The toll in the Rajouri mystery illness case rose to 17 even as the Centre sent a team to study the situation
Calling the case not 'rarest of rare', a court in Kolkata sentenced Sanjay Roy, the only accused in the R G Kar rape-murder case to life in prison until death
oppn parties
No Stopping Nitish Kumar

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2024-02-13 15:13:25

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.

Despite RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav saying in the aftermath of the nth palti by Nitish Kumar that Bihar 'mein abhi khela baki hai', it was clear that after JD(U) moved to the NDA and Jitan Ram Majhi also decided to lend a helping hand, there was little the rising star of Bihar politics could do to stop them. This was proved when Nitish Kumar won the floor test in the state assembly by 129-0 as the entire opposition walked out. In the process, the RJD also lost three MLAs who voted for the NDA alliance government.

The debate preceding the vote was marked by several stinging comments from both sides. When Nitish Kumar said that mann nahin lag raha tha (in the RJD alliance), Tejashwi was quick to respond whether the RJD was there for entertainment purpose. Tejashwi also pointedly asked that could Prime Minister Modi, handing out Modi ki guarantees, now guarantee that Nitish Kumar will not change colours once again. The BJP charged the RJD of continuously insulting Nitish Kumar.

But one thing is clear though - with the realignment in Bihar politics, Tejashwi Yadav and RJD are on the back foot. Despite his bravado, RJD had 79 MLAs compared to 78 of the BJP. That means that voters are divided. After the realignment, and considering the caste factor, the yadav votes might remain with RJD but the upper caste will reamin with the BJP and JD(U) and other small party votes will now move to the NDA. Then the biggest factor is the consolidation of Hindu votes after the Ram Mandir consecration. That might play a big part in the 2024 elections in Bihar. It will be interesting to watch whether communities still vote along caste lines or are swayed by the Ram Mandir. It is because Bihar's politics is overwhelmingly caste-based that the BJP has left nothing to chance and brought Nitish Kumar back in the fold. It will also be interesting to watch if people still have faith in him or will dump him for being a snollygoster.