Speaker’s first ruling expunges Bihar leaders’ verbal spat

August 14th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Leaders of Bihar's ruling coalition of the Bharatiya Janata Party and Janata Dal-United (JD-U) Friday requested the Election Commission to hold simultaneous by-election from all 18 assembly constituencies where they were due, instead of only seven, in view of the drought conditions in the state. The Election Commission has issued a notification for holding by-elections on Sep 10 to seven of the 18 constituencies where they have been necessitated for various reasons.

July 21st, 2009 NEW DELHI - Keen to revive the party's prospects in Bihar ahead of assembly elections in 2010, some Congress leaders from the state are in favour of an alliance with Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) chief Ram Vilas Paswan, but only if he parts ways with Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) boss Lalu Prasad. "There is a strong feeling among Congress leaders and workers from Bihar that the party should have an alliance with Paswan during the assembly elections, but they want it only if he leaves Lalu Prasad," a senior Congress leader from Bihar told IANS.

July 11th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The central committee of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) is meeting here today to decide on the proposals sent by the party's politburo on the infighting in its Kerala Unit. CPM politburo met this morning ahead of the central committee's meeting, to give final touch to its proposals.

June 8th, 2009 PATNA - A section of the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) Monday blamed the pre-poll alliance with the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) for the party's debacle in the Lok Sabha elections in Bihar. The LJP held a workers meeting here to review the party's performance in the elections.

June 3rd, 2009 NEW DELHI - Meira Kumar, the first woman speaker of the Lok Sabha, impressed the opposition MPs on her first day in chair, with many saying she will be a success in this role. "She was very impressive as speaker.

June 2nd, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Tuesday decided to nominate senior tribal leader from Jharkhand, Karia Munda, for the post of deputy speaker in the Lok Sabha, which by tradition is offered to the opposition. BJP general secretary Arun Jaitley told reporters after a meeting of the party's parliamentary board that Munda had "vast parliamentary experience" and was among the senior MPs of the party.

May 8th, 2009 PATNA - The Bihar unit of the Congress Friday urged the party's top leadership to keep Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad and Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) president Ram Vilas Paswan out if the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) comes back to power at the centre. 'Congress workers and leaders of the state are of the view that the party high command should keep both Lalu and Paswan out of the next government of the UPA because any working relationship with them will harm the party's revival prospects in Bihar,' president of the party's state unit Anil Kumar Sharma said.

May 8th, 2009 KOLKATA - Congress spokesman Veerappa Moily took his party's spat with the Rashtriya Janata Dal and Lok Janshakti Party to another level on Friday when he accused coalition partners of "insulting" the Congress over seat-sharing in Bihar. "We should be more angry.

May 8th, 2009 PATNA - The Bihar unit of the Congress Friday urged the party's top leadership to keep Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad and Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) president Ram Vilas Paswan out if the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) comes back to power at the centre. 'Congress workers and leaders of the state are of the view that the party high command should keep both Lalu and Paswan out of the next government of the UPA because any working relationship with them will harm the party's revival prospects in Bihar,' president of the party's state unit Anil Kumar Sharma said.

April 22nd, 2009 KOLKATA - A day after his spat with Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad, Congress leader and External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee Tuesday sought to end the controversy by blaming his 'broken Hindi' for the 'confusion'. What he had wanted to say in Bihar's Samastipur Monday was that Lalu Prasad's party and the Congress had a pre-poll understanding in the 2004 Lok Sabha polls, the minister said.

March 23rd, 2009 NEW DELHI - The rift in the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) widened further Sunday with a miffed Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) deciding to contest even in the three Lok Sabha seats held by the Congress in Bihar. Hardening his stand against the Congress, RJD chief and Railway Minister Lalu Prasad told reporters here that his party would put up candidates in Aurangabad, Sasaram and Madhubani with the backing of Ram Vilas Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party (LJP).

March 22nd, 2009 NEW DELHI - Unmoved by the Congress declaring it would go it alone in Bihar, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Saturday asserted that he would stick to the alliance firmed up with the Lok Janshakti Party for the state. Hours after the Congress announced that it would fight 37 of the state's 40 seats, RJD chief Lalu Prasad said: 'We will give only three seats to the Congress and there will be no reconsideration on this.' Yadav told reporters: 'If the Congress wants to field its candidates they can, but (Congress chief) Sonia Gandhi will realise the importance of the RJD after the elections.' The Congress move came after the RJD and Ram Vilas Paswan of LJP earlier in the week unilaterally decided the alliance formula for Bihar, leaving just three seats for the Congress.

March 22nd, 2009 NEW DELHI - Unfazed by the Congress announcing it would go it alone in Bihar, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Saturday asserted that he could not help if the Congress was unhappy with the seat sharing formula firmed up with the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) and he would stick to it. At the same time, he sought to dispel talk about any spilt in the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA), saying his party continued to be a part of the ruling coalition.

February 16th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L.K. Advani had a verbal brawl with members of the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) in the Lok Sabha over the compensation paid to families of farmers who committed suicide after crop failure.

February 4th, 2009 PANAJI - A Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator Thursday caused a flutter in the assembly when he used the word 'Bihar' as a simile to describe a 'state of lawlessness'. BJP legislator from Saligao Dilip Parulekar, who was speaking during a calling attention motion, said that Goa seemed to be going the 'Bihar way'.