Nitish Kumar has created storm which can challenge BJP: Shiv Sena
Mumbai(PTI): The Shiv Sena on Thursday claimed Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has created a storm by severing ties with the BJP and this storm can pose a challenge to the saffron party in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls if it intensifies into a cyclone.
An editorial in the Sena mouthpiece 'Saamana' lavished praise on Kumar, saying the BJP tried to break his party Janata Dal (United), but he stung back and turned the tables by severing ties with the BJP.
The Marathi daily also targeted Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, who revolted against the Sena leadership in June, saying he bent the knee before Delhi.
He (Shinde) should understand that Kumar showed he can survive without it, the editorial said. The Sena further said the fissures between Kumar and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) founder Lalu Prasad must come to an end now.
It also praised Prasad's son Tejashwi Yadav, who led the RJD's Assembly polls campaign in 2020, describing him as a "young and popular" leader of Bihar who had posed a challenge to the then BJP-JD(U) alliance.
The RJD and JD(U) had contested against each other in the 2020 Bihar Assembly polls. The ties between Kumar and Lalu Prasad have seen several ups and downs over the last four decades.
Nitish Kumar had on Tuesday quit the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) to join hands with the RJD.
The Sena editorial said the BJP tried to destabilise the JD(U) by backing former Union minister RCP Singh and after realising this, Kumar parted ways with the saffron party.
Nitish Kumar has created a storm. If it intensifies into a cyclone, then it can pose a challenge to the BJP, the Marathi publication said.
It said the repercussions of political revolutions in Bihar, the land of socialist leader Jai Prakash Narayan, are felt in the entire country and the new political realignment in the state could potentially change the outcome of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
Bihar sends 40 MPs to the Lok Sabha, the fourth highest after Uttar Pradesh (80), Maharashtra (48) and West Bengal (42).
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Congress names candidates for 8 Haryana LS seats, fields Kumari Selja, Deepender Hooda
Chandigarh (PTI): The Congress on Thursday announced candidates for eight of the nine Lok Sabha seats it is contesting in Haryana, fielding former Union minister Kumari Selja, Rajya Sabha MP Deepender Hooda and youth leader Divyanshu Budhiraja, besides two sitting MLAs.
The party has also fielded former MP Jai Prakash and leaders Satpal Brahmachari and Mahendra Pratap, according to the list released late Thursday evening.
The Congress is contesting nine of the 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana. It has not yet announced its candidate for the Gurugram constituency.
The Aam Aadmi Party, a constituent of the opposition INDIA bloc, will contest the Kurukshetra seat.
Congress general secretary and former Union minister Selja will contest from the Sirsa (reserved) seat and sitting MLAs Varun Choudhary and Rao Dan Singh from the Ambala (reserved) and the Bhiwani-Mahendragarh Lok Sabha seats, respectively.
Deepender Hooda, son of former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, will enter the fray from Rohtak. He has represented the Rohtak parliamentary constituency three times in the past.
Jai Prakash has been fielded from Hisar, the Congress' Haryana youth wing president Divanshu Budhiraja from Karnal, Satpal Brahmachari from Sonipat and Mahendra Pratap from Faridabad.
