Jan Suraaj to contest all 243 seats in Bihar: Prashant Kishor
Purnea (Bihar), Sep 12: Political strategist-turned-activist Prashant Kishor on Thursday said Jan Suraaj, which is set to become a political party in less than a month from now, will contest "all 243 seats" in the Bihar assembly polls due next year.
Addressing a press conference in Purnea district, Kishor said the party will be formed on October 2 "with active support of at least one crore people of the state, which would leave no need for any alliance".
"Let me make it clear that Jan Suraaj will contest all 243 seats, not one less", said Kishor, who has in his earlier avatar handled poll campaigns of leaders such as Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Aam Aadmi Party founder Arvind Kejriwal.
A known critic of the much touted prohibition law in Bihar, the IPAC founder said the new party would "scrap the ban on liquor within an hour of forming its government".
"The prohibition law is nothing but a sham (dhakosla) on part of Nitish Kumar," he said.
He criticised the current prohibition as ineffective, claiming that it has led to illegal home deliveries of alcohol and deprived the state of Rs 20,000 crore in potential excise revenue.
Kishor accused politicians and bureaucrats of benefiting from the illegal liquor trade.
The 47-year-old said he is a believer in "kabiliyat ki rajniti (politics of merit)" and would not shy away from speaking against prohibition "like other parties which fear that doing so may cost them votes of women".
Kishor said he saw Nitish Kumar and his predecessor Lalu Prasad as responsible for Bihar's plight though Congress and BJP too shared the blame.
"The Congress turned a blind eye towards the misdeeds of Lalu Prasad since his RJD was a valuable ally of the previous UPA government. It helped him remain in power though the RJD never had a majority in assembly", recounted Kishor.
He pointed out that "same is the case with Nitish Kumar whose JD(U) has never won a clear mandate. The BJP, under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which is so fond of splitting other parties to form its own government in Maharashtra, remains content with playing second fiddle to Nitish Kumar in Bihar".
Asked about Rahul Gandhi's statement on reservations, which has drawn flak from the BJP, Kishor quipped, "I wonder if the Congress leader remains mindful of what he is saying. If what has been reported is correct, then he seems to be going back on the stance he had adopted during the recent Lok Sabha polls which saw him pressing the demand for caste census so vehemently".
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Israel launches first airstrike on Lebanon since ceasefire, accusing Hezbollah of breaching truce
Beirut, Nov 28: The Israeli military on Thursday said its warplanes fired on southern Lebanon after detecting Hezbollah activity at a rocket storage facility, the first Israeli airstrike a day after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took hold.
There was no immediate word on casualties from Israel's aerial attack, which came hours after the Israeli military said it fired on people trying to return to certain areas in southern Lebanon. Israel said they were violating the ceasefire agreement, without providing details. Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said two people were wounded.
The back-to-back incidents stirred unease about the agreement, brokered by the United States and France, which includes an initial two-month ceasefire in which Hezbollah members are to withdraw north of the Litani River and Israeli forces are to return to their side of the border. The buffer zone would be patrolled by Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers.
On Thursday, the second day of a ceasefire after more than a year of bloody conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, Lebanon's state news agency reported that Israeli fire targeted civilians in Markaba, close to the border, without providing further details. Israel said it fired artillery in three other locations near the border. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
An Associated Press reporter in northern Israel near the border heard Israeli drones buzzing overhead and the sound of artillery strikes from the Lebanese side.
The Israeli military said in a statement that “several suspects were identified arriving with vehicles to a number of areas in southern Lebanon, breaching the conditions of the ceasefire.” It said troops “opened fire toward them” and would “actively enforce violations of the ceasefire agreement.”
Israeli officials have said forces will be withdrawn gradually as it ensures that the agreement is being enforced. Israel has warned people not to return to areas where troops are deployed, and says it reserves the right to strike Hezbollah if it violates the terms of the truce.
A Lebanese military official said Lebanese troops would gradually deploy in the south as Israeli troops withdraw. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media.
The ceasefire agreement announced late Tuesday ended 14 months of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah that began a day after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023 attack out of Gaza, when the Lebanese Hezbollah group began firing rockets, drones and missiles in solidarity.
Israel retaliated with airstrikes, and the conflict steadily intensified for nearly a year before boiling over into all-out war in mid-September. The war in Gaza is still raging with no end in sight.
More than 3,760 people were killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon during the conflict, many of them civilians, according to Lebanese health officials. The fighting killed more than 70 people in Israel — over half of them civilians — as well as dozens of Israeli soldiers fighting in southern Lebanon.
Some 1.2 million people were displaced in Lebanon, and thousands began streaming back to their homes on Wednesday despite warnings from the Lebanese military and the Israeli army to stay out of certain areas. Some 50,000 people were displaced on the Israeli side, but few have returned and the communities near the northern border are still largely deserted.
In Menara, an Israeli community on the border with views into Lebanon, around three quarters of homes are damaged, some with collapsed roofs and burnt-out interiors. A few residents could be seen gathering their belongings on Thursday before leaving again.
