Doors of Grand Alliance shut on Nitish Kumar: Tejashwi
Patna, June 26: Setting at rest all speculation about Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar joining the Grand Alliance in the state, RJD leader and Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Tejashwi Yadav on Tuesday said there is no chance of extending him an invitation ahead of the 2019 general elections.
"Why should we offer those to join the Grand Alliance who insulted the mandate of the people? We will not allow their entry into the Grand Alliance," Tejashwi, also a former Deputy Chief Minister, told the media here.
Reporters had asked him whether the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) allies -- Congress and Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) -- had invited Nitish Kumar to join the Grand Alliance with certain conditions.
Tejashwi, the younger son of RJD chief Lalu Prasad, categorically said that the doors of the Grand Alliance were closed for Nitish Kumar. "People also want this as he has proved himself a 'Paltu Ram' (a turncoat)."
He, however, said that the Grand Alliance was ready to welcome Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ally Rashtriya Lok Samta Party (RLSP) chief and Union Minister Upendra Kushwaha. "We will welcome his (Kushwaha) entry into Grand Alliance."
It was being widely speculated that senior Congress leader Shakti Singh Gohil, who is party incharge for Bihar, has asked Nitish Kumar to join the Grand Alliance. Besides, another ally HAM chief and former Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi also extended an invitation on the condition that Tejashwi would be the chief ministerial candidate in the 2020 Bihar Assembly polls.
The Grand Alliance comprises the Congress, RJD and the HAM. In February this year, the HAM walked out of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and joined the Grand Alliance.
Last July, Nitish Kumar -- also Janata Dal-United (JD-U) president -- joined hands with the BJP and formed the government in the state after dumping the Congress and the RJD.
In the 2015 state polls, the Grand Alliance of JD-U, RJD and the Congress had defeated the BJP-led NDA.
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Nearly 70% cases in 'pension adalats' resolved since 2019: Govt
New Delhi (PTI): Over 8,300 cases were resolved in pension adalats held since 2019, Union Minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh informed the Rajya Sabha on Thursday.
A total of 12,049 cases were taken up by pension adalats since 2019.
In a written reply, the minister said of the total cases, 8,373 (69.49 per cent) have been resolved.
"Pension adalat is an important administrative reform for improving pensioners’ welfare by timely and effective redressal of long-standing grievances of central government pensioners," he said.
There is substantial decrease in the number of pensioners’ grievances due to the pension adalat, Singh said.
He said since 2019, eight pension adalats have been held.
As many as 403 cases were taken up in two pension adalats held in 2024, of which 330 were resolved, according to the data shared by the minister.
A total of 603 (440 were resolved) and 1,732 (1,113 were resolved) cases were taken up in 2023 and 2022 respectively, it said.
Of the total of 3,692 cases taken up in 2021, 2,598 (70.36 per cent) were resolved.
There were 342 (319 were resolved) and 5,277 (3,573 were resolved) pension-related cases were taken up in 2020 and 2019 respectively, according to the data.
