Not good for democracy: Arvind Kejriwal on Nitish Kumar's flip-flop move to NDA
New Delhi, Jan 29: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday said his Bihar counterpart Nitish Kumar did not do the right thing by exiting INDIA bloc, calling his conduct not good for democracy.
Kejriwal made the remark at a press conference while responding to a question about Nitish forming a new government with BJP in Bihar.
"I feel that he should not have left. He has done wrong. Such conduct is not good for democracy. What my understanding is that this (his exit) will cause loses for NDA in Bihar, instead of benefitting them. INDIA bloc will benefit," he said.
Nitish Kumar Sunday resigned as the Chief Minister of Bihar, saying "things were not working well" for him in the 'Mahagathbandhan' or the grand alliance and the opposition bloc INDIA, and formed a new government with the BJP, which he had dumped less than 18 months ago.
Besides JD (U), RJD, Congress, and Left parties were the other constituents of the now no more Mahagathbandhan.
Kumar's latest crossover, his fifth in a little over a decade, is being seen as a big setback for the opposition unity ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.
In reference to the Chandigarh municipal elections, the AAP supremo said that Tuesday might bring a message of the first victory for the INDIA bloc as the Aam Aadmi Party-Congress alliance could win the polls.
Last week, the Punjab and Haryana High Court directed the Chandigarh mayoral polls be held on January 30, quashing the administration's "unreasonable, unjustified and arbitrary" decision to postpone the election.
While allowing a petition challenging the order of the Chandigarh deputy commissioner, who is the authority for holding the mayoral polls, postponing the election from January 18 to February 6, the court also observed that the grounds on which the polls were deferred were "totally absurd and frivolous".
Under the Congress-AAP alliance, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will fight for the mayor's seat while the Congress will contest the posts of senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor.
AAP is part of the INDIA bloc and is in seat-sharing talks with Congress for five states -- Delhi, Punjab, Gujarat, Goa, and Haryana.
The Punjab units of both Congress and AAP have ruled out any alliance between the parties in the state for upcoming Lok Sabha polls, though a final decision is yet to be announced.
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Tirupati laddu row: Samples of Ayodhya Ram temple 'prasad' sent for testing
Ayodhya, Sep 27: The Food Safety and Drug Administration Department on Friday collected samples of 'elaichi daana' or cardamom seeds being distributed as 'prasad' at the Ram Janmabhoomi temple here and sent them for testing, officials said.
The action was taken following a complaint lodged through the Integrated Grievance Redressal System (IGRS), Assistant Food Commissioner Manik Chand Singh said.
Singh said the samples were procured from Haiderganj, where the cardamom seed offerings are prepared and sent to the Jhansi State Laboratory for comprehensive testing and evaluation.
Prakash Gupta, the officer in charge of the Ram Temple trust, revealed that on average, around 80,000 packets of cardamom seeds are distributed daily as a sacred offering.
Amid a row over the alleged presence of animal fat in laddus at the Tirupati Temple in Andhra Pradesh, the chief priest of the Ram temple here on Thursday questioned the purity of ghee being sold nationwide and said 'prasad' should be prepared under the supervision of temple priests only.
