Bihar polls: Phase 2 nominations begin; NDA, INDIA bloc yet to announce candidates
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Patna (PTI): Candidates were yet to be announced by both the ruling NDA and the opposition INDIA bloc in poll-bound Bihar on Monday, even as just four days remain for filing nominations for the first phase, and the process beginning for the second leg.
However, state BJP president Dilip Jaiswal, who was back from Delhi a day after the NDA announced its seat-sharing formula, asserted that "all five constituents" were likely to declare their candidates "by tomorrow" and filing of nominations will be completed for both phases this week itself.
He said Union Home Minister Amit Shah was scheduled to arrive on October 16 on a three-day tour, and, during the period, "several other Union ministers and chief ministers of at least a dozen BJP-ruled states" were likely to be in Bihar to lend some extra glitz to the nomination filing process.
The BJP leader also said rallies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the biggest crowd-puller, would also be scheduled in due course.
According to the seat-sharing formula that leaders agreed upon in Delhi a day ago, the BJP will contest 101 of the 243 seats, while Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) has accepted a proportionate share, dropping its earlier demand for a dominant share.
The Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), headed by Union minister Chirag Paswan whose revolt five years ago was blamed by the JD(U) for its dismal performance, has got 29 seats, a handsome deal taking into consideration the fact that his party has not a single member in the outgoing assembly.
Rashtriya Lok Morcha, led by Rajya Sabha MP Upendra Kushwaha, and the Hindustani Awam Morcha (of Jitan Ram Manjhi) have each been allotted six seats.
Compared with the NDA, which has at least finalised a seat-sharing formula, the INDIA bloc seems stuck on that very stage, prompting smaller allies to declare their respective candidates for seats they are comfortable of being allotted.
Talking to PTI over phone, CPI(ML) Liberation general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya said, "Photographs are viral on social media of our candidates getting the party symbol. This should not be taken as some sort of defiance of the collective INDIA bloc leadership. We are allotting symbols to our sitting MLAs, about whom there is no dispute with alliance partners".
About fresh faces like former AISA leader Divya Gautam, whose candidature is being much talked about, Bhattacharya said, "She is tipped to be our candidate for Digha seat which we had contested in 2020 as well. The then candidate Shashi Yadav is now an MLC".
"In any case, we are hopeful that sharing of seats for the entire coalition will be finalised by tomorrow. And in the next few days, we will complete the nomination process", said the CPI(ML) Liberation general secretary.
Earlier, another Left ally CPI(M), which has two MLAs in the current assembly, had announced that both its MLAs, Ajay Kumar and Satyendra Yadav, would file their nomination papers on October 14 and 18 respectively.
The largest alliance partner, the RJD, is yet to reveal its cards, even as aspirants continued to queue up outside the house of party president Lalu Prasad, who returned from Delhi in the evening, along with wife Rabri Devi, after appearing before a court which framed charges against him in the land for jobs scam.
Their son and heir apparent Tejashwi Yadav, the INDIA bloc's de facto chief ministerial candidate, has stayed back in the national capital, apparently to iron out differences with the Congress, the second largest alliance partner, which is said to have adopted an aggressive stance after the success of Rahul Gandhi's Voter Adhikar Yatra.
The RJD supremo's elder son Tej Pratap Yadav, who was expelled by his father a few months ago, came out a list of candidates who would contest under the banner of Janshakti Janata Dal headed by him.
The maverick leader has also announced himself as the candidate from Mahua, the seat he had won in 2015, much to the chagrin of the younger brother who wants a smooth run for close aide and sitting MLA Mukesh Raushan.
Meanwhile, the Jan Suraaj Party headed by Prashant Kishor came out with its second list of 65 candidates, raising the total number of names made public by the party to 116. However, the suspense over Kishor contesting against Tejashwi Yadav from his stronghold Raghopur remains as the party's candidate for the seat was yet to be announced.
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Rupee falls 9 paise to record low of 90.87 against US dollar in early trade
Mumbai (PTI): The rupee plunged 9 paise to a record low of 90.87 against the US dollar in early trade on Tuesday, weighed down by sustained FII outflows and no breakthrough in the India-US trade deal.
However, a weaker greenback and a decline in global crude oil prices capped further losses in the domestic unit, according to forex traders.
At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at its all-time low of 90.87 against the US dollar, down 9 paise from its previous close, and traded in a narrow range of 90.77- 90.87 in early trade.
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The rupee on Monday settled at a new all-time low of 90.78 against the US dollar, registering a loss of 29 paise over its previous close, weighed down by uncertainty over an India-US trade deal and persistent foreign fund outflows.
"The US-India trade deal still seems to be off by a distance with the Commerce Secretary saying the first phase will be signed before the end of the year and news that we are closest to the deal being signed. The uncertainty has clouded the recovery on the USD/INR pair as the rupee opened lower with dollar buying happening every day," Anil Kumar Bhansali, Head of Treasury and Executive Director, Finrex Treasury Advisors LLP, said.
Even a reduction in trade deficit on Monday could not bring about a recovery in the rupee with Foreign Institutional Investors (FII) outflows continuing, he added
According to the latest government data released on Monday, India's trade deficit narrowed to a five-month low of USD 24.53 billion in November, as exports rebounded by 19.37 per cent to a six-month high of USD 38.13 billion after contracting in October, driven by higher shipments of engineering and electronics goods.
At the same time, the country's imports dipped by 1.88 per cent to USD 62.66 billion due to a fall in the inbound shipments of gold, crude oil, coal, and coke.
FIIs sold equities worth Rs 1,468.32 crore on Monday, according to exchange data.
Also, wholesale price inflation stayed in the negative for the second consecutive month in November at (-) 0.32 per cent, even though there was an uptick in prices of food articles like pulses and vegetables on a month-on-month basis, government data showed on Monday.
Wholesale Price Index (WPI)-based inflation was at (-) 1.21 per cent in October and 2.16 per cent in November last year.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.03 per cent lower at 98.27.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading 0.61 per cent lower at USD 60.19 per barrel in futures trade.
On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share benchmark index, Sensex, declined 363.92 points to 84,849.44 in early trade while the Nifty was down 106.65 points to 25,920.65.
