This Week Bihar

When RJD spokesperson,veteran lawyer and close Lalu Prasad aide Shakil Ahmad Khan joined JD-U.

Opposition silenced,literally

When RJD spokesperson,veteran lawyer and close Lalu Prasad aide Shakil Ahmad Khan joined JD-U on Friday,it was as if Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had lived up to his motto of taking away all voices of the Opposition RJD and LJP. One by one,spokespersons have been leaving either party. It started with Shivanand Tiwari,now JD-U Rajya Sabha MP and national spokesperson,quitting the RJD four years ago. They were followed by two RJD spokespersons,Shyam Rajak and Bhim Singh,both now ministers in Nitish government. From the LJP,its main spokesperson Sanjay Singh,who used to be the right-hand man of Ram Vilas Paswan,joined JD-U last year and is now chief spokesperson of the state JD-U. Now with Shakil Khan joining the JD-U,the Opposition has been left literally speechless. Asked how he has targeted all spokespersons in rival camps,Nitish Kumar said: I dont. But when it happens,I dont stop it either.

Paswans MLCs gone,MLAs possible next

It could not have been worse for LJP president Ram Vilas Paswan. Having managed to enter the Rajya Sabha with RJD support,Paswan has lost all three of his partys members in the Legislative Council to the JD-U. Besides,two of the three LJP MLAs Thakurganj legislator Naushad Alam and Bhabhua MLA Pramod Kumar Singh too are said to be to set to join the JD-U once Assembly Speaker U N Choudhary returns to Patna from a tour. Asked about this,Paswan insisted that his MLAs are with him and in the fight against the Nitish government. The three MLCs he dismissed as rank opportunists.

Lalu back after 6 months of silence

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RJD chief Lalu Prasad recently announced a forceful return to Bihar politics after a self-imposed,six-month spell of silence. I had vowed not to speak for six months but I am back and will start training camps for party workers, the RJD chief said at a recent media meet. He said state politics still veers around him. Lalu has demanded a CBI inquiry into BIADA land allotment and attacked Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. The CM,for his part,said Lalu Prasad should first reform himself and then think of training his workers. Nitish said: I am not given to making retorts all but when it comes to Laluji,I have to say something.

Video-conferencing for RTI complaints

The Bihar Information Commission last week started hearing RTI complaints through video-conferencing. Chief Information Commissioner A K Choudhary said Bihar is the first state to do this. There has been an over-20-per-cent surge in RTI complaints in the last three years and he said the commission now has a better mechanism to address them. An RTI call centre,Jaankari,is already in operation and has won the government praise. Video-conferencing,said the CIC,would be expanded to block levels so that the maximum possible number of complaints could be disposed of with a limited workforce. The Chief Minister said the government has been fast using technology in governance,moving far ahead of the RJD days that were famously marked by Lalu Prasads comment: Yeh IT waiti kya hai?

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PM Modi addresses the nation ahead of the rollout of new GST rates.

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