Opposition, NDA trade barbs over 'horse-trading' allegations in Bihar RS polls
New Delhi (PTI): Opposition parties on Tuesday alleged “horse-trading” in the Bihar Rajya Sabha elections, where all five seats were won by the BJP-led NDA, and demanded a review of the anti-defection law.
The BJP and its alliance partners rejected the allegations and said the opposition failed to manage its legislators and did not follow standard procedures of issuing a whip during voting.
"It is unfortunate that political morality has sunk to a nadir. People no longer respect the political parties that brought them into office. The time has come to seriously re-examine the anti-defection law, as allegations of horse-trading arise in every election. What used to be a retail activity has now become a mega mart operation," Congress MP Manish Tewari told reporters inside the Lok Sabha House complex.
RJD MP Sudhakar Singh alleged that the NDA secured victory by using "money power".
“Not only Tejashwi Yadav, but the entire country has levelled allegations of horse trading against the BJP. They did it in Haryana, Odisha, Bihar, and others.
"Elections are being fought without majority support, by using money power. Legislators are being broken away. This is not how a democracy should function. The anti-defection law exists precisely to prevent such actions -- that a party can only split if there is a two-thirds majority," Singh said.
Rejecting the allegations, BJP MP from Bihar's Paschim Champaran, Sanjay Jaiswal, said, “The Congress party did not issue a three-line whip, which is a standard practice during voting. Rahul Gandhi was holidaying in Cambodia, Tejashwi Yadav was vacationing in Europe --so their leaders were busy elsewhere as well. They could not even issue a whip, and now they are questioning who voted for whom.”
Defying a party whip can lead to the disqualification of a lawmaker under the anti-defection law.
JD(U) leader and Union Minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh said that Tejashwi Yadav should introspect instead of levelling allegations.
“Tejashwi Yadav has to say something. What else can someone do after losing? He should look within his own house. Why is he unable to keep his own flock together? If you cannot manage your own house, you start blaming others.
"He had kept their MLAs confined in hotels, and even after that, he is making allegations. He needs to introspect. The people of Bihar are no longer with them. Lalu Prasad Yadav’s era is over, and he too will follow,” he said.
LJP (Ram Vilas) MP Arun Bharti said the results reflected the NDA’s unity and questioned the opposition leadership.
“We thank all NDA MLAs in Bihar who voted and ensured victory for our candidates. Earlier, the public did not trust Tejashwi Yadav and Rahul Gandhi; now even their own MLAs lack confidence in their leadership.
"They must honestly assess their leadership capacity, competence, and credibility, which are now under serious question,” he said.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and BJP national president Nitin Nabin were elected to the Rajya Sabha from Bihar on Monday when the ruling NDA made a clean sweep, clinching all five seats in the state.
Besides Kumar, who heads the JD(U), and Nabin, who is currently a member of the state assembly, the other winning candidates were Union minister Ram Nath Thakur (JDU), who made a hat-trick in the Upper House, the BJP's Shivesh Kumar, whose debut would make up for the party's lack of a Dalit face in Parliament from the state, and Rashtriya Lok Morcha president Upendra Kushwaha, who got elected for a second consecutive term.
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Trump vows to ‘finish job’, thanks Middle East allies; urges countries to show courage, buy US oil
Says US will ‘hit Iran extremely hard’ over next 2-3 weeks, threatens power plants
Washington: US President Donald Trump has said the United States is close to achieving its objectives in Iran, while thanking key allies in the Middle East for their support.
“We are gonna finish the job. We are getting very close,” Trump said, expressing appreciation to Israel, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE and Bahrain. “They’ve been great and we will not let them fail in any way shape or form,” he added.
Trump claimed that US military operations against Iran have delivered major results over the past month. Referring to “Operation Epic Fury”, he said American forces had carried out “swift, decisive, overwhelming victories on the battlefield”.
He said Iran’s naval and air capabilities had been severely weakened and its ability to launch missiles and drones had been significantly reduced. “Their ability to launch missiles and drones is dramatically curtailed, and their weapons factories and rocket launchers are being blown to pieces – very few of them left,” he said.
The US president also repeated his criticism of the 2015 nuclear deal signed under former President Barack Obama, claiming it would have allowed Iran to develop nuclear weapons. Iran has consistently maintained that its nuclear programme is peaceful.
Trump said the US military campaign aims to weaken Iran’s ability to support proxy groups and prevent it from developing nuclear weapons. “Taken together, these actions will cripple Iran militarily,” he said, adding that key strategic objectives are “nearing completion”.
In a separate remark, Trump urged countries dependent on Gulf oil to take action and suggested they should rely more on American energy supplies. He called on them to show “delayed courage” and secure the Strait of Hormuz, which has been affected by the ongoing conflict.
“[They] should have done it before, should have done it with us, as we asked. Go to the strait and just take it, protect it,” he said, adding that the United States has sufficient oil resources.
The remarks come as tensions remain high in the region, with continued military exchanges and growing concerns over global energy supplies.
“We will continue until our objectives are fully achieved. Thanks to the progress, we’ve made, I can say we are on track to complete all of America’s objectives shortly, very shortly,” the US president said.
We are going to hit them extremely hard over the next two to three weeks. We are going to take them back to the stone ages where they belong,” he added.
He further added that “regime change was never our goal” but that “regime change has occurred because of their original leader’s death”.
He’s also warned Iran of strikes on power plants if no deal is agreed.
“If during this period of time, no deal is made, we have our eyes on key targets. If no deal is reached we are going to hit every one of their electric generating plants very hard, and probably simultaneously,” he says.
