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BJP leader Srikant Bharti shot dead in Bihar, violent protests follow

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Representational Image

Representational Image

Patna: A senior state BJP leader, Srikant Bharti was shot dead in Bihar’s Siwan district, triggering violent protests Monday by his supporters, police said.

Bharti was killed by unidentified men late Sunday night when he was returning from a marriage party.

“Hundreds of supporters of the murdered leader, mostly BJP local leaders and workers, blocked roads and burnt tyres. They also raised slogans against the state government,” a district police official said.

Tension prevailed in the area but the situation was brought under control as additional security forces were deployed, police officials said.

Bharti was a confidant of BJP MP from Siwan Om Prakash Yadav.

He contested the 2010 state assembly polls but lost.

Bharti’s family members and supporters considered his murder as a political killing planned by rivals.

(IANS)

RJD, JD-U likely merge ahead of Bihar assembly polls

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RJD JD-U

Patna: Bihar will witness the biggest political realignment of the decade ahead of the assembly polls in 2015 with likely merger of Lalu Prasad’s Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the ruling Janata Dal-United to counter the surging BJP.

“After results of Haryana and Maharashtra assembly polls, Lalu Prasad and JD-U president Sharad Yadav and former chief minister Nitish Kumar have agreed in principle to merge the two parties to take on the BJP,” a RJD leader close to Lalu Prasad said Monday.

This development has come nearly four months after Lalu Prasad and Nitish Kumar joined hands in Bihar and 10 days after leaders of the Samajwadi Party, the JD-U, the RJD and the Janata Dal-Secular announced a united front to counter the Narendra Modi government at the Centre.

A JD-U leader said: “Merger of the RJD and the JD-U is on cards to strengthen secular forces…”

He said none other than Nitish Kumar himself said that “we resolved to work together and in the near future there is a strong possibility we might merge and form one party”.

According to the JD-U and the RJD leaders here, if both parties contest next state assembly polls as an alliance, there will be serious problem of seat sharing.

The JD-U, which has 118 legislators in the house, will bargain for more seats and the RJD, which has 23 legislators, will put its claim for more seats on the basis of its performance in the last Lok Sabha polls.

In August, Lalu Prasad and Nitish Kumar jointly campaigned during the by-elections in Bihar. The JD-U, the RJD and the Congress won six of the 10 assembly seats.

That was the first time the two leaders came together after a gap of 20 years. It was in the 1991 Lok Sabha polls that Lalu Prasad and Nitish Kumar last campaigned together.

Lalu Prasad then said he and Nitish Kumar wanted to send a strong message across the country to unite non-BJP forces.

Nitish Kumar, who quit as Bihar’s chief minister in May after his party was routed in the general elections, has been repeatedly targeting Modi.

He said Modi has failed to bring back black money stashed abroad by Indians within 100 days of taking power.

In a bid to expose Modi’s double speak, Nitish Kumar said: “Modi had promised to bring back black money after being elected to power. But he has failed to do that even after 150 days.”

The JD-U ended a 17-year alliance with the BJP last year after Modi was declared the prime ministerial candidate of the party.

The man who wanted to send Modi critics to Pakistan is now Minister of State for Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises

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Giriraj Singh salutes colleagues as he heads take oath at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Sunday. (Source: Express photo by Neeraj Priyadarshi)

Giriraj Singh salutes colleagues as he heads take oath at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Sunday. (Source: Express photo by Neeraj Priyadarshi)

New Delhi: Giriraj Singh, 63, of the BJP, who was made a Minister of State for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises today, faces criminal charges for allegedly delivering a hate speech and is out on bail. Mr Singh is a first-time MP from Nawada in Bihar.

Giriraj Singh hit the headlines this July when he said that his house had been burgled of Rs 50,000. The burglar was caught and Rs 1.14 crores recovered from him, that Singh insisted was not his. He has also been booked for hate speech while campaigning for the Lok Sabha elections where he insisted that those who did not support Narendra Modi for Prime Minister should “go to Pakistan.” He followed these remarks with, “Pakistan is the hurdle in Narendra Modi’s path of becoming PM, and there are some people in India who are pro-Modi. Some are pro-terrorism and their political Mecca-Madina is Pakistan. These people should be in Pakistan, not India.”

More recently he again stated, “”Isn’t it true that all people caught in terrorist activities belong to one community? I am not trying to blame any one particular community. Why are all so-called secular parties silent on this?” PM Modi had warned at the time of “irresponsible statements” without naming Singh who has now found a place in the Cabinet.

Congress on Sunday took potshots at Narendra Modi’s ministry expansion saying the inclusion of BJP leader Giriraj Singh was a “crisp slap” by the Prime Minister to secularism.

The party said that the expansion was “far more” of caste, geography and less on merit.

Priyanka Chaturvedi, a Congress leader and panelist tweeted, “Am certain the way things are going Giriraj Singh will take charge as MoS MEA, to facilitate all Modi haters to move to Pakistan. Strategic.”

On the cabinet reshuffle, senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh tweeted, “Why so much excitement about Cabinet Expansion? Modi doesn’t require a Cabinet. His is a ONE MAN CABINET ! Ask Rajnath Ji and Gadkari Ji!”

Singhvi also said, “The Sunday shuffle, if numerically analysed, has far more of caste & geography & far less of merit. To be fair, Cong also sometimes did same”.

Hundreds of Mahadalits flee Bihar village after threats

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Mahadalit

Patna: Their caste kinsman may be the Bihar chief minister but that brings no solace to hundreds of Mahadalits who fled their village in Gaya district and taken shelter in a government office after threats from upper caste men for protesting the killing of one of them.

Tekari police station officer incharge Pradip Kumar told IANS over telephone that more than 250 Mahadalits, mostly of the Manjhi caste that Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi belongs to, fled Pura village after they were allegedly threatened by upper cast residents and were camping in the block office in Tekari.

The provocation was their protests over killing of a Mahadalit who filed his nomination for the election for president of the primary agriculture cooperative society, police said.

Pradip Kumar said that security forces have been deployed in the village after police was informed about the incident.

“But Mahadalits are reluctant to return to their village as they fear that powerful upper caste people would attack and kill them,” he said.

According to district police officials, Arjun Manjhi of the village was killed after he filed nomination papers for the election and refused to withdraw despite pressure.

Manjhi’s killing angered his castemen, who demanded action against the accused.

“After they protested, some powerful people threatened them to eliminate them like Manjhi. Fearing attacks on them, they were forced to flee the village,” said another police official.

Kumar said Mahadalits have made it clear that they would return to the village only after police arrest seven named as accused in the complaint filed by Arjun Manjhi’s family. They have also threatened to stage protests in Gaya town if the accused were not arrested soon.

(IANS)

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