The first day of the two-day shutdown called by the Maoists in five states passed off without any violent incidents in Bihar and Jharkhand on Wednesday, but there was palpable fear in both the states as normal life was badly hit due to severe restrictions of public transport systems.

While closely watching the simmering tensions between Bihar’s ruling JD(U) and ally BJP over Narendra Modi’s likely presence in the Assembly poll campaigns, the Opposition Congress has lined up an array of Union ministers and MPs to tour the state this month.

A Bihar woman has sent unusual vibes in society by willingly organising the second wedding of her husband with her own younger sister in a rare show of love for both.
Savita Devi, 27, a mother of three children in Satyaha village of Saran district, defied strong disapproval from her extended family and community to her plans to formally organise the second marriage of her husband, Ashok Shah, 30, and her sister, Sarita Kumari, 23.

The BJP and the JD(U) in Bihar put up a united show on Monday to shut down the state in a 12-hour bandh against price rise, but the simmering tensions between the two allies over Narendra Modi spilled out onto the streets during the shutdown and resulted in group clashes followed by hot exchanges between leaders.

The BJP on Sunday launched a comprehensive attack on the Congress for letting the crisis of price rise worsen and ridiculed the UPA government for its failure to ascertain the exact number of people l

“Tainted” politician and former Union minister Mohammad Taslimuddin on Sunday formally joined Bihar’s ruling JD(U) at a ceremony in his hometown of Kishenganj attended by chief minister Nitish Kumar o

The JD(U) on Saturday stole a march on the Congress by winning over Dr Arun Kumar, an influential Bhumihar leader and former JD(U) MP from Jehanabad, who had quit the party and joined the Congress on the eve of the Lok Sabha polls.

Vying for Bihar’s Muslim votes and sensing the challenge thrown up by the Congress, chief minister Nitish Kumar has presented another picture of Centre-state confrontation over the Congress-led UPA government’s reported rejection of the Bihar government’s proposals for development of madrasas in six Muslim-dominated districts.

CRPF sub-inspector Mithilesh Prasad Singh, one of the 27 CRPF personnel killed in the Maoist attack in Chhatisgarh’s Naryanpur on Tuesday, was to arrive at his ancestral village Matihan in Bihar’s Saran district in 20 days to conduct his daughter’s wedding. His village was seized with grief and hopelessness on Thursday when his body arrived there.

The hike in fuel prices has galvanised all non-Congress political parties in Bihar against the United Progressive Alliance government at the Centre and prompted them to plan statewide shutdowns in the next few days with an obvious eye on the state’s Assembly polls due in November.