Rai Atul Krishna

Now-friend, now-foe: How Nitish Kumar’s alliances helped keep him ahead of the curve

For much of the past 27 years, Kumar has lived to his image of an opportunistic politician. Since he hit Bihar’s political mainstream in early 1990s, when his ‘now-friend, now-foe’ compatriot Lalu Prasad first became the state’s chief minister, Kumar has also managed to set his own agenda.

BJP counts on Yogi to exorcise ghost of Bihar assembly poll loss to Nitish-led alliance

The Uttar Pradesh CM will visit Darbhanga on Thursday to disseminate among party workers in Bihar some the effervescence generated by the BJP’s big victory in the UP assembly elections in March.

Half Girlfriend: Chetan Bhagat settles defamation case with Bihar royals, says sorry

Chandra Vijay Singh slapped the defamation suit against Chetan Bhagat claiming the male members of the family were maliciously portrayed as alcoholics and gamblers in Half Girlfriend.

Lalu ‘pulls up’ home minister Rajnath for ’ditching’ Patna meet

Home minister last minute decision to stay away from an official function to felicitate freedom fighters came in for sharp criticism.

To keep India united, celebrate its diversity, says Prez Mukherjee at Gandhi function

The President felicitated 15 freedom fighters at the Akhil Bharatiya Swatantrata Senani Samman Samaroh, organised in Patna as part of the centenary year celebrations of Gandhi’s ‘Champaran Satyagrah

Freight equalization hit Bihar growth, says Prez

This is for the first time that a serving President, also a former finance minister, has admitted in public that the freight equalisation policy impaired the growth of mineral rich eastern states

Justice Menon tipped to be Patna high court CJ

Justice Rajendra Menon is among 10 judges cleared for the post of chief justice of various high courts. The final approval of the appointment at the level of the prime minister’s office (PMO) is awaited.

Big lapses in Patna boat mishap that claimed 24 lives

No disaster mitigation processes was in place to rescue ill-fated boat passengers. Visitors also claimed much of the wherewithal was used to ferry bureaucrats, police officers and their families.

Radical leaders’ presence gave anxious moments during Parkash Parv celebrations in Patna

The presence at Takht Sri Harmandirji, Patna Sahib, of two ‘radical’ Sikh leaders along with their 200-250 supporters, very nearly marred the bonhomie and goodwill that marked the 350th Prakash Parv (birth anniversary) celebration of Guru Gobind Singh (January 1-5).

Bihar land deals before demonetisation put BJP in a spot

Union min Upendra Kushwaha ‘walks out’ of NDA press meet

The patience of Kushwaha apparently wore thin as leaders continued to speak. About 75 minutes into the programme, Kushwaha suddenly made an exit.

Bihar health min Tej Pratap Yadav seen with yet another murder suspect

For Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, two photographs, which surfaced on two consecutive days, are causing quite a bit of trouble.

With 11,000 volunteers, RSS quietly makes its mark on Bihar flood relief

Out to meet King Khan, Bengal kids land in Gaya juvenile home

Four kids from Asansol in West Bengal, who set out for Mumbai in the hope of meeting their idol - Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, have landed in a rescue home for juveniles in Gaya in Bihar.

BJP Muslim leaders at crossroads post Bihar poll defeat

Eight months after the BJP’s drubbing in the Bihar Assembly elections, there is a palpable sense of disquiet among a handful of the party’s Muslim leaders who insist that it needs to do more to gain the community’s support.

Aurangzeb, not Babar, built Babri masjid, says new book

Ayodhya dispute: Aurangzeb, not Babar, built Babri masjid, says new book

The book, Ayodhya Revisited, has been authored by former IPS officer Kishore Kunal who, as Officer on Special Duty in Ayodhya from 1990 to 1992 to the then Union home minister, had an insider’s view of the goings-on in the dispute.

Post liquor ban, women emerge as Nitish’s prime constituency

Nitish Kumar’s strong advocacy of prohibition in his home state of Bihar, addressing it as a social evil, has an almost Gandhian ring to it.

‘Dry’ Bihar to plug gap in law to make liquor possession illegal

The Bihar government is considering bringing an ordinance to plug a gap in the law that allows people to keep or possess alcoholic drinks in the state where sale and drinking of liquor is prohibited.

Bihar Rajya Sabha nominees are all crorepatis

Eminent lawyer Ram Boolchand Jethmalani (RJD) is almost 24 times as rich as his JD (U)’s Ramchandra Prasad Singh, who is the “poorest” of the five, as per details provided in the affidavits filed by them.

Bihar royals want to stall shooting of Arjun-Shraddha’s Half Girlfriend

Bihar royal wants Mohit Suri to stop working on his film, featuring Arjun Kapoor and Shraddha Kapoor, based on Chetan Bhagat’s Half Girlfriend. Chandra Vijay Singh of Dumaraon, who had slapped a Rs 1 crore defamation suit on author Chetan Bhagat, claiming men of the royal family were maliciously portrayed as alcoholics and gamblers in the latter’s novel, is trying his best to stall Suri’s movie.

Unfazed by notice, RJD Muslim MP gives big thumbs up to PM

RJD Muslim MP gives big thumbs up to PM Modi

“The Modi Government has given Rs 500 crore for a railway line in Araria which had been pending for almost 10 years and the work on it is about to start. The PM surely deserves my praise,” Taslimuddin told HT on Monday afternoon, in his first reaction to the party notice.

Expedite long-pending court cases, PM Modi urges judiciary

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday called upon the judiciary to facilitate early disposal of long-pending cases so as to serve the cause of justice and bring relief to those affected by the delay in disposal of such cases

In JNU, we are fighting for India’s democracy: CPI-ML General Secretary

Counted among the country’s top left ideologues, Dipankar Bhattacharya, 55, has already served 17 years as head of the party, which has risen from its extreme left moorings to emerge as a mainstream communist party in the country. In a chat with Rai Atul Krishna, he spoke of what is at stake in the arrest of JNU students’ union president Kanhaiya Kumar on the charge of ‘sedition’.

In Shatrughan Sinha’s biography, he is ‘Anything but Khamosh’

Someone who has shown a knack for firing away googlies to keep India’s political class in a thrall, actor-politician Shatrughan Singh is once again set to deliver a prodigiously spinning ‘wrong one’.

Despite concessions to ally Lalu, Nitish remains in charge of affairs

Contrary to the impression he conceded too much ground to the dictates of Lalu Prasad, chief minister Nitish Kumar has held his own in his cabinet formation.

Friends, foes and friends again: The Lalu, Nitish partnership

One is labelled Viru, the other Jai -- and together they have spirited the three-party grand alliance between the Rashtriya Janata Dal, Janata Dal (United) and Congress to a historic win in one of the most crucial political battles of their careers.

Bihar poll results: NDA defeat casts shadow over Bihar package

The BJP-led NDA’s stunning defeat at the hands of the RJD-JD(U)-Congress ‘grand alliance’ in the Bihar assembly election appears to have cast a shadow over the devolution of central funds for the ‘special package’ announced for the state.

Modi taunts Cong: ‘They talk tolerance on 1984 riots anniversary’

A combative Prime Minister Narendra Modi returned persistent Opposition fire on Monday, saying the Congress had no right to lecture his government on intolerance in the country because the party presided over the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.