My Opinion

Filing of nomination papers began for the first phase of Bihar assembly elections to 121 seats on Friday. Seat-sharing in both the NDA and Mahagathbandhan is yet to be finalized.
BJP leaders claim, LJP-R leader Chirag Paswan has been persuaded to accept between 24 to 26 seats. Paswan had been demanding 43 seats. According to reports, NDA’s seat-sharing formula has been almost finalized and it may be announced next week.
In RJD-led Mahagathbandhan, RJD is trying hard to persuade Congress to contest lesser number of seats. The top development of the day was RJD chief Tejashwi Yadav’s announcement to give at least one government job to each family in Bihar. Tejashwi Yadav said, within 20 days of forming his government, a legislation will be enacted and within 20 months, government jobs will be given to each family.
Asked how his government would arrange jobs and salaries for the new employees, Tejashwi Yadav said, there is no need to worry, the roadmap is ready and we are waiting for the election results.
Nobody should be surprised over Tejashwi’s promise to give government job to each family. Such promises are made at the time of elections, but BJP has raised the query as to how each member from 2.7 crore families can be given govt jobs?
Presently, the main focus of all parties is on selecting the right candidates. BJP leaders are trying their best to persuade Chirag Paswan to scale down his demand. In the last elections, Chirag Paswan caused big losses to Nitish Kumar, because of which BJP won more seats compared to Janata Dal(U). BJP will ensure it will not allow this to be repeated this time.
In Mahagathbandhan, Tejashwi Yadav is facing a tough time persuading Congress to scale down its demand for seats. In the last elections, Congress could win only 19 seats despite contesting 70, and this resulted in a big loss for Tejashwi’s alliance.
Jan Suraaj Party founder Prashant Kishor is exuding quiet confidence. On Thursday, his party announced names of 51 candidates. It consists of singers, mathematicians, and family members of late Karpoori Thakur and R.C.P. Singh. PK’s candidates are different from the traditional candidates and his party may gain some advantage.

Mayawati is not a spent force in UP

On Late Kanshi Ram’s death anniversary, Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati addressed a big rally at Kanshi Ram Park in Lucknow to display her organisational strength.
Surprisingly, Mayawati praised UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath for taking care of the maintenance of several monuments of Dalit leaders. Mayawati said, she had built monuments to Kanshi Ram and Babasaheb Ambedkar and set rules under which money collected as entry free to Dalit monuments should be used for their maintenance.
She alleged, when Akhilesh Yadav became CM, most of the money that was collected from entry fee was spent on other heads elsewhere. Mayawati said, she wrote a letter to Yogi after which the BJP government improved the maintenance of all these monuments.
Mayawati indirectly hinted that her nephew Akash Anand would inherit her political legacy. The huge turnout of supporters at Mayawati’s rally clearly shows she has a solid support base.
For the last several years, Mayawati had taken her supporters for granted. She used to move out of her residence on very few occasions. She only used to go to press conferences, read out her statements and return. On her political succession issue, she made several flip-flops about her nephew. The result was, BSP lost most of the elections.
It now appears that Mayawati has prepared a sound strategy to revitalize the party. The manner in which she attacked Akhilesh Yadav and Congress on Thursday, clearly reminds one of vintage Mayawati.
Today, her party may be having only one MLA, but BSP has a big support base which was nurtured by Late Kanshi Ram after much toil. Mayawati cannot be ignored any more in UP politics.

Shehbaz and Munir: Did they betray the Muslim world

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and army chief Asim Munir are now facing trouble after supporting Donald Trump’s Gaza peace plan.
In Lahore on Wednesday night, police had to fire on crowds and dozens were killed. Islamic clerics in Pakistan have raised a banner of revolt against Shehbaz and Munir for supporting Trump’s Gaza plan.
The chief of fundamentalist outfit Tehreek-e-Labbaiq Pakistan (TLP) Maulana Saad Rizvi gave a call to gherao the US embassy in Islamabad on Friday after prayers.
On Wednesday night, police surrounded the Lahore HQ of TLP and tried to arrest Maulana Saad Rizvi. There were clashes and police had to resort to firing.
The people of Pakistan have now realized that both Asim Munir and Shehbaz Sharif have clearly surrendered to Donald Trump in their bid to run their business. Pakistan had always been a staunch supporter of a free Palestine and the anger of the common people is now visible on the streets.
The Shehbaz-Munir duo even went to the extent of nominating Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize, but it was awarded to a Venezuelan opposition leader by the Nobel Peace Prize Committee on Friday.
Trump had been claiming that he stopped seven wars across the globe and deserved the Nobel Peace Prize. The question is: Why is Trump so eager to get the Nobel Peace Prize?
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With the Bihar assembly election schedule announced, the stage is set for a multi-polar contest on November 6 and 11, and the results will be out on November 14.
RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav said, people of Bihar want change and November 14 will mark the end of two decades of Nitish Kumar’s rule.
BJP leaders claim, Modi magic will again work wonders in Bihar, while allies Jitan Ram Manjhi and Upendra Kushwaha promised they would stand with NDA.
Both the BJP-led NDA and RJD-led Mahagathbandhan are yet to work out seat sharing among their constituents. RJD’s ally Congress is yet to publicly accept Tejashwi Yadav as its chief ministerial face. Congress wants to contest 70 seats this time, but Tejashwi is unwilling.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his Janata Dal(United) is working on a focused strategy with ally BJP. They are focussing on direct benefit schemes for women, unemployed youths and other sections of society. Two hours before the Model Code of Conduct came into force, Nitish Kumar transferred Rs 10,000 each into the accounts of 21 lakh women in Bihar.
Ten days before the poll schedule was announced, Nitish’s govt transferred Rs 10,000 each to the accounts of 75 lakh women. On October 3, another 25 lakh women got Rs 10,000 each. In all, 1.21 crore women have got money in their accounts by now. Nitish Kumar has promised to give free electricity to poor families in his next tenure.
Summing up, Nitish Kumar has emerged as a big factor in Bihar elections. He was being made the butt of jokes when opposition leaders alleged that he is suffering from frequent amnesia, unable to recognize people and fumbles when he speaks.
But in the last few weeks, looking at the manner in which Nitish announced new schemes and sent direct money transfer to the accounts of women, who can say that Nitish Kumar is unable to run a government?
Nitish Kumar’s biggest advantage is, he has the powerful BJP with him. BJP’s problem is, it has no leader of stature in Bihar, whom it can project, but BJP relies on Modi’s magic : his image and his achievements. That is the biggest strength of BJP.
On the other hand, RJD only has the face of Tejashwi Yadav and the solid voter vase of Yadavs and Muslims. But for the first time, in an assembly election, Lalu Yadav’s family appears to be divided. This is going to harm RJD.
For Tejashwi, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi is a big headache. In the last assembly elections, Owaisi had inflicted heavy losses on RJD in the Muslim-dominated Simanchal region.
Another new player in Bihar elections is Prashant Kishor with his Jan Suraaj party. His chances can be compared to a closed fist. For the last three years, Prashant Kishor had been touring villages and towns of Bihar. No other leader in Bihar had done so much toil as Prashant Kishor did.
Prashant Kishor, with his background as a political strategist working for different parties, knows how to contest elections. He has no past baggage with him.
If the electorate in Bihar casts its vote based on merit instead of caste, Prashant Kishor can turn the tables on others. All other parties are now fearing Prashant Kishor. Nobody knows who will win.

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