Patna Diary | Nitish attacks Lalu’s dynastic politics

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar never misses the opportunity to attack RJD chief and his predecessor, Lalu Prasad, during his election meetings. This time, without mentioning Lalu’s name, Nitish claimed that during the RJD’s rule, Lalu cared only for his family and not for the people of Bihar. He referred to the time when the RJD supremo stepped down after his involvement in the fodder scam cases and appointed his wife, Rabri Devi, as chief minister, rather than handing over the reins to a dedicated and deserving party worker.Expelled RJD leader Tej Pratap Yadav has announced his new party, Janshakti Janata Dal. Neither his father, Lalu Prasad, nor his mother, Rabri Devi, is featured in the recently released official poster. Instead, there are five pictures at the top of the poster: Mahatma Gandhi, BR Ambedkar, Ram Manohar Lohia, Jayaprakash Narayan, and JananayakKarpuri Thakur. He, however, described himself as a true follower of his father, a socialist credited with giving voice to the downtrodden in Bihar.

RK Singh bats for Kshatriya communityFormer Union Minister and BJP leader RK Singh has created a flutter in political circles for his recent remarks, urging members of the Kshatriya community to vote only for those who give them in the upcoming Bihar assembly elections. He rued the ‘fragmented’ representation of the Kshatriya community across the political spectrum and called out his own party, the BJP, over the under- representation of the caste. He said that he had no “shame in speaking out even against his own party”. His outburst against BJP leaders, including Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary and state unit chief Dilip Jaiswal, has promoted rumours that he may plan to float a new party.