Yadav, who heads the Jan Adhikar Party (JAP) and enjoys clout in the Kosi region, recounted how he had appealed to Bihar chief minister and Janata Dal-United (JD-U) supremo Nitish Kumar, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) boss Lalu Yadav, and even the Congress for entry into the state's Mahagathbandhan (MGB) fold, only to be ungraciously snubbed. It was just last year that the Congress had nominated his wife Ranjeet Ranjan to the Rajya Sabha-but then, as a forceful orator in Parliament, she has an independent political existence.
It's rough weather for Bihar's once-powerful bahubalis these days. Part-Robinhoods, part-caste lords, part-social influencers and part-musclemen, today they find themselves being cast aside ahead of the 2024 polls, partly thanks to Nitish's split with the BJP last year and his alliance with the Congress, RJD and the Left. It's more a course in logic than ethics, though. The move altered Bihar's political theatre, turning it into a two-front battle between the MGB and the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and consequently shrinking the space for such 'one-man armies'. So, apart from Yadav, there is also former MLA Anant Singh a.k.a. Chhote Sarkar, the once-prized strongman now left twiddling his thumbs in Patna's Beur central jail after his conviction in an Arms Act case. Incidentally, the RJD had just last year backed Singh's wife Neelam Devi for the Mokama assembly bypoll after her husband's disqualification, and she even won the election. As for the controversial release of convicted killer and politician Anand Mohan Singh in April, if there was any speculation that the MGB would welcome him in a bid to sway Rajputs away from the BJP, nothing has materialised so far, with no prominent politician seen rubbing shoulders with him.
Denne historien er fra August 21, 2023-utgaven av India Today.
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Denne historien er fra August 21, 2023-utgaven av India Today.
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Shuttle Star
Ashwini Ponnappa was the only Indian to compete in the inaugural edition of BDMNTN-XL, a new international badminton tourney with a new format, held in Indonesia
There's No Planet B
All Living Things-Environmental Film Festival (ALT EFF) returns with 72 films to be screened across multiple locations from Nov. 22 to Dec. 8
AMPED UP AND UNPLUGGED
THE MAHINDRA INDEPENDENCE ROCK FESTIVAL PROMISES AN INTERESTING LINE-UP OF OLD AND NEW ACTS, CEMENTING ITS REPUTATION AS THE 'WOODSTOCK OF INDIA'
A Musical Marriage
Faezeh Jalali has returned to the Prithvi Theatre Festival with Runaway Brides, a hilarious musical about Indian weddings
THE PRICE OF FREEDOM
Nikhil Advani’s adaptation of Freedom at Midnight details our tumultuous transition to an independent nation
Family Saga
RAMONA SEN's The Lady on the Horse doesn't lose its pace while narrating the story of five generations of a family in Calcutta
THE ETERNAL MOTHER
Prayaag Akbar's new novel delves into the complexities of contemporary India
TURNING A NEW LEAF
Since the turn of the century, we have lost hundreds of thousands of trees. Many had stood for centuries, weathering storms, wars, droughts and famines.
INDIA'S BEATING GREEN HEART
Ramachandra Guha's new book-Speaking with Nature-is a chronicle of homegrown environmentalism that speaks to the world
A NEW LEASE FOR OLD FILMS
NOSTALGIA AND CURIOSITY BRING AUDIENCES BACK TO THE THEATRES TO REVISIT MOVIES OF THE YESTERYEARS
