Bihar: BJP suspends ex-Union minister Raj Kumar Singh, MLC, his Mayor wife
Patna (PTI): Former Union minister Raj Kumar Singh, who has been in the news for his outbursts against the ruling NDA in Bihar, was on Saturday suspended from the BJP for "anti-party" activities, a party leader said.
Singh, who has been served with a suspension order by the BJP headquarters in the state, has also been asked to show cause why he should not be expelled from the party.
In a similar action, the party also suspended MLC Ashok Kumar Agrawal and his wife Usha Agrawal, the mayor of Katihar, the BJP leader said.
The couple had canvassed for their son Saurabh, who was contesting the Katihar assembly seat on a ticket of Vikassheel Insan Party, against sitting BJP MLA and former Deputy CM Tarkishor Prasad.
Singh, the bureaucrat-turned-politician, who joined the BJP in 2014, months after retiring as the Union home secretary, has been critical of leaders, like Samrat Choudhary, a deputy chief minister of Bihar and a former state BJP president, for their alleged involvement in criminal cases.
He failed to retain his Ara Lok Sabha seat for a third consecutive term in the Lok Sabha polls last year,
Singh has also been critical of the "deal" struck by the state government with the Adani Group for setting up a power plant in Bhagalpur.
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Tejas jet suffered damage to airframe while landing at frontline air base
New Delhi (PTI): A Tejas light combat aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF) sustained major damage to its airframe after it overshot the runway at a frontline airbase following a suspected brake failure earlier this month, authoritative sources said on Sunday.
The pilot of the aircraft ejected safely, they said.
It is learnt that the aircraft was returning to the base after carrying out a training sortie.
There was no official word from the IAF on the accident that took place on February 7.
Following the incident, the IAF grounded the entire fleet of around 30 single-seat Tejas jets to carry out an extensive technical scrutiny, the sources said.
It was the third accident involving the Tejas jets. The first one took place in March 2024, when a Tejas jet crashed near Jaisalmer.
The second incident took place in November 2025, when a Tejas jet crashed during an aerial display at the Dubai Airshow.
The latest accident comes at a time when Tejas maker Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) has missed several deadlines to supply the Tejas Mark 1A variant of the aircraft to the IAF.
In February 2021, the defence ministry sealed a Rs 48,000 crore deal with HAL for the procurement of 83 Tejas Mk-1A jets for the IAF.
The delivery of the jets is facing delays primarily due to GE Aerospace missing several deadlines for the supply of its aero engines to power the jets.
The defence ministry in September last year sealed another deal worth Rs 62,370 crore with HAL to procure 97 Tejas MK-1A light combat aircraft for the IAF.
Tejas is a single-engine multi-role fighter aircraft capable of operating in high-threat air environments.
It has been designed to undertake air defence, maritime reconnaissance and strike roles.
