"Party kay janmadaata, party ki maut hone se bacha rahe hain (the party's founders are attempting to save it before its death)," Singh, who earlier in the day had also come down on the party leadership, said.

The BJP has allegedly issued a whip to party leaders not to speak on the Bihar polls. It has said that only party spokesperson will be allowed to make statements on the Bihar polls debacle and has warned that action would be taken against leaders who violate the code.


After the BJP's decimation in Bihar, some of the searing criticism directed at the party has come from its own leaders. Hukumdev Narayan Yadav, the BJP lawmaker from Madhubani in Bihar, has said that RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat's comments favouring a review of the country's policy of quota for the backward castes sealed the party's fate.


Actor-politician Shatrughan Sinha, who is among the most vocal in-house critics of the BJP, needled his party in a series of tweets praising Nitish Kumar. He tweeted" "It appears the issue of Bihari vs Bahari (and Bihari babu's absence) has been settled once and for all" and "Wishing great luck to our victorious friends and appealing for introspection to our people. The writing was always on the wall."


Today, MP from Begusarai Bhola Singh said, "BJP not only lost in Bihar but got drowned in knee deep water."

Just in: Goa activist Father Bismarque Dias who had gone missing since last Thursday has been found dead. The activist was protesting over the mega projects in Goa. The family alleges he was killed. The first autopsy report says death was due to drowning; a second autopsy report is awaited.

Since Tipu Sultan seems to be the flavour of the season with protests in Kodagu, Karnataka, by the BJP over the state government's decision to hold celebrations on his birth anniversary, here's a look at the 18th century ruler's arms that were auctioned in April for Rs 56 crore. 


 Auction house Bonhams has sold a spectacular collection of arms and armour once owned by Mysore ruler Tipu Sultan for over 6 million pounds (Rs 56.8 crore).The valuables, auctioned on April 21, included sabres, gemset trophy swords, embroidered arrow quivers, exquisite quilted helmets, blunderbusses, fowling pieces, sporting guns, pistols, and a threepounder bronze cannon -- each and every weapon a work of art in its own right. Take a look

The government has announced reforms touching 15 sectors, easing foreign direct investment or FDI in mining, civil aviation, defence, broadcasting, construction. It has also relaxed norms related to investment by companies owned and controlled by NRIs.



The major reforms push, being billed as the biggest in the FDI regime, comes two days after the ruling BJP suffered a crushing defeat in the Bihar assembly elections. Also, a day before Prime Minister Narendra Modi leaves for his first visit to the United Kingdom, focussed predominantly on business and investment.


"To further boost this entire investment environment and to bring in foreign investments in the country, the Government has brought in FDI related reforms and liberalisation touching upon 15 major sectors of the economy," the government said in a press release that listed the sectors for which FDI measures have been announced today.


It sought to allay fears that the BJP's defeat in Bihar will lead to a further slowdown in economic reforms. "With this round of reforms, the government has demonstrated that India is unstoppable on the path of economic development," the government said, adding, "The Prime Minister has reiterated that the economic wellbeing of the people of India is the main task before him."


It is being seen as a message that the government continues to be focussed on the economy and a counter to the criticism that PM Modi's Bihar campaign deviated from his development agenda.

India wants cordial relations with Pakistan and Nepal and will do everything to further improve ties with its neighbours, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said today.


"Pakistan is our neighbouring country. We want very cordial relations with Pakistan. But Pakistan too has to reciprocate," he told reporters at a 'Diwali Milan' here. Asked about Nepal, which has been witnessing protests by Madhesis over adoption of a new Constitution, Singh said New Delhi wants very good relations with Kathmandu too. "We want very good relations with Nepal too. We will do everything for betterment of our relations with our neighbours," he said.


Asked whether differences have crept in the ruling PDP- BJP alliance in Jammu and Kashmir, the Home Minister said the coalition government in the state will continue.


"Alliance will continue. There is no threat to it," he said. Commenting on the protests during the recent visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Jammu and Kashmir, Singh said such incidents had taken place in the past too. "But you should remember that only a handful people were there (in protests), he said. Singh said law-and-order situation in Jammu and Kashmir has improved to a great extent and ever since the NDA government came to power in the Centre in May 2014, 165 militants belonging to Lashker-e-Taiba, Hizbul Mujahideen and others, were eliminated.

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar today said the behaviour of war veterans protesting the notification on OROP scheme is "unlike that of a soldier" and they have been misguided even as he asked them not to link their decision to return medals to a financial demand.


He said he was "pained" to see such tactics being used. "Medals are given by the country for the service and gallantry acts that the soldiers have rendered. A section insisting on returning the medals because one is not happy with certain clauses of OROP, for which the government is paying over Rs 8,000 crore, is demeaning the medal itself," Parrikar said.


While noting that democracy gives everyone the right to protest, he urged the veterans not to return their medals which have been bestowed upon them by the country.


"These acts are not in line with the army discipline. It is hurting the basic ethos of the army," Parrikar said in Goa. He termed the one rank, one pension (OROP) decision as his biggest achievement in the last one year and said it was the BJP government that had finalised the measure.

Just in: The Devendra Fadnavis-run BJP government is likely to expand the cabinet before the state assembly to include two portfolios for the Shiv Sena. 

The government has eased FDI norms in 15 major sectors, raises FIPB approval limit to Rs 5,000 crore from Rs 3,000 crore.

The Modi government gets its groove back. The NDA government which swept the Lok Sabha elections in 2014 on the 'development' platform but was waylaid by the divisive politics of the fringe, will shortly announce foreign direct investment in at least 15 sectors including construction.


The government hopes to ally concerns that reforms will continue, a worry that has plagued voters.


As many as 15 sectors could be opened up more in one of the biggest review of the foreign investment regime. The government has been working towards simplifying the FDI policy.


The Economic Times reported that India had got FDI of $19.39 billion in the April-June period, according to data up 29.5% over the year earlier. The Modi government has been pushing hard to drum up overseas investment, easing FDI regulations in various sectors including the railways, medical devices, insurance, pension, construction and defence.

Details awaited.

Yesterday, Google had a doodle on Heidi Lamar. If you haven't looked her up, well, Googled her, here's a easy peasy way to stay informed on the amazing Hollywood star. Rediff.com profiles her. Take a look.

Just in: Centre to push for FDI in via the automatic route in 16 sectors including the construction sector.

The SAD-led Punjab government was on its toes as members of various Sikh organisations, including that of hardline groups, gathered on the outskirts of Amritsar today to take part in what they called 'Sarbat Khalsa', seeking to free Sikh institutions from political influence.


The last 'Sarbat Khalsa', a large congregation of Sikhs, was held in 1986. However, Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee and Akal Takht, Sikhism's highest religious seat, have refused to term it as 'Sarbat Khalsa', which is being held at Chabba village about 10 kms from the holy city.


The congregation is being held near 'samadh' (memorial) of Bhai Naudh Singh on the Amritsar-Tarn Taran Road under overcast conditions. The state government, which has faced back-to-back protests over loss of crops by farmers; and by locals over alleged desecration incidents of Guru Granth Sahib, has turned the holy city into a fortress with heavy security arrangements.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Union Minister Harsh Vardhan today praised former Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit for initiating the Azadpur-Prembari Pul elevated corridor, which was inaugurated today by Delhi government.


The 1.6-km elevated corridor will decongest areas like Ashok Vihar, Shalimar Bagh and Wazirpur and allow unhindered traffic flow along the entire 44-km Ring Road. AAP government has completed the construction at an actual cost of Rs 147 crore as against a sanctioned outlay of Rs 247.17 crore. The Sheila Dikshit government had initiated the project in 2013.


"The entire credit for initiating the Azadpur-Prembari Pul elevated corridor goes to Dikshit. When we took over the government, only 20-30 per cent of the work on this project was completed but, in last eight months, we have completed the remaining works and will do the same for other projects as well," Kejriwal said.


Vardhan, a former Delhi BJP President and the Union Minister for Science and Technology and Earth Sciences, too, praised Dikshit, who was at the helm in Delhi for 15 years, saying that we should not engage in politics over development works. Referring to Dishit, he said that "there should no politics over developmental works for the sake of Delhi".


Kejriwal, meanwhile, claimed it was the first time that a project whose sanctioned cost was Rs 250 crore was completed at an actual cost of Rs 150 crore. "I think this is for the first time that a flyover, whose sanctioned cost was Rs 250 crore, has been built at an actual cost of Rs 150 crore. We have heard till now that a project having sanctioned cost of Rs 250 crore was constructed at a cost of Rs 500 crore. "We will now build two flyovers at a cost at which only one flyover was earlier constructed. We will not waste taxpayers' money," he added.

The trailer of Dilwale is finally out and Raja Sen says it looks bad. Read

Meanwhile, spot the difference in the two posters.... 

"Nitish Kumar wouldn't have won Bihar without Lalu. He needed a voter base and Lalu has a much bigger voter base than Nitish," says Sankarshan Thakur, the biographer of both Lalu Prasad Yadav and Nitish Kumar, in an interview with Archana Masih/Rediff.com. Read

Pollster Today's Chanakya issued an apology for getting its forecast of the Bihar Assembly election results wrong. There was a 'coding error' they say. Erm.


"In our 18 plus years of polling experience, we have always maintained to provide a realistic picture of the ground. As a 100% independent unbiased agency, we have projected victories for Congress, BJP & the regional parties wherever they were winning.
 

"In the Bihar elections 2015 - After the results declaration we examined - How we went so wrong ? Where was the error at our end?


"And we found that a simple computer template coding marking the alliances got interchanged at our end. Due to this our seat numbers remained the same but respective alliances got interchanged. And we are looking into the reasons that why it happened. In any case we take the responsibility & sincerely apologize.
 
Wishing you & your family a very Happy Dhanteras & Diwali.
 
Team - Todays Chanakya"

After a massive mandate, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar will take oath of office after the Chhath festival on November 20.

Two days after a stunning electoral win, the Grand Alliance of JD-U, RJD and the Congress led by Nitish began the process to form the cabinet.

All the newly elected MLAs have been invited to Patna after the Chhath festival for a joint meeting with Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad Yadav.

Several non-BJP chief ministers including West Bengal CM Mamta Banerjee and Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik and other senior leaders like Congress president Sonia Gandhi, vice President Rahul Gandhi and former PM Deve Gowda will be invited to attend the oath taking ceremony in Patna.

 
"A 36-member cabinet including chief minister Nitish Kumar will take oath after Chhath festival,"JD-U leaders said.

Chhath will be celeberated after Diwali on Nov 16 and 17 and is the most popular festival in Bihar.

According to leaders of the Grand Alliance, there will be 16 ministers from RJD, 15 from JD-U and 5 from Congress in his cabinet.

RJD has emerged as the largest single party winning 80 assembly seats, followed by JD-U with 71 and Congress with 27 seats.

The BJP won 53 assembly seat and its allies LJP 2 ,RLSP 2 and HAM 1 seat. Three seats were won by the CPI(ML) of the left front and four independents.


-- MI Khan/Patna

This week the Indian prime minister makes a triumphant visit to the UK after cosying up to everyone from Silicon Valley CEOs to Rupert Murdoch. What's behind the uncritical embrace of a man who has presided over a rising tide of assassinations and religious zealotry, and driven the country's writers and artists into revolt?


Read Pankaj Mishra's outstanding column in the Guardian.

As BJP tries to recover from its Bihar poll debacle, ally Shiv Sena today dealt another blow to the party, saying that "cunningness" does not always work in politics and that the common man will respond appropriately if promises made are not fulfilled.


"Many times a wave comes and then goes. Once it goes, there remains no trace of that wave. It is true that BJP had a big win in the Lok Sabha election, but the credit for that victory goes to the weak and ineffective leadership of Gandhi.


"There was no strong 'pehelwan' in the arena and it (BJP) thus emerged as the 'bahubali'," the Sena organ said while also ridiculing the BJP leaders for giving advice to others on shedding ego. Taking a dig at BJP, Sena further said that their leaders are "great" and "cannot make any mistake" and whatever they say should be considered true. However, the editorial added that "in politics, cunningness does not always work".


Several non-NDA parties have hailed the handsome mandate for the JD(U)-RJD-Congress alliance in Bihar polls as a "victory of principles" and defeat of the "arrogance" of BJP.


"(BJP leader) Sushil Kumar Modi has advised (RJD chief) Lalu Prasad to shed his ego after winning the Bihar elections. It is comical to see BJP leaders giving advice on ego to others, but in politics and specially during election times, such comical things keep happening," it said.


Sena, a partner in the BJP-led governments at the Centre and in Maharashtra, said nobody had a the formula for consistently winning elections.


The party further remarked that after the Lok Sabha polls, BJP could not win the majority in the Maharashtra Assembly elections despite using what the editorial claimed was its "tremendous money power". Sena also criticised BJP over the sky-rocketing prices of essential commodities.


"A common man has small dreams. Control over inflation, good education for his children, a roof over his head and security. But what have people got until now?" it asked. "Inflation is not being brought under control and traders are indulging in illegal hoarding, thus creating a shortage of foodstuffs," the editorial charged.

Congress leader and former union minister Kapil Sibal, former Bihar CM Rabri Devi and master strategist Prashant Kishor may reap the benefits of the Bihar poll results. All three may be Rajya Sabha MPs from Bihar. But that's still a big may be.


In July 2016, five Bihar Rajya Sabha MPs will be retiring, among them are Sharad Yadav, Pavan Verma and KC Tyagi. There are bright chances that two of the three will be renominated. There is a is a possibility that Pavan Verma may be brought back to Bihar and a new face sent to Delhi instead.


Bihar CM Nitish Kumar wants to reward Prashat Kishor with a pivotal position in Delhi, which is likely to be a Rajya Sabha seat. As much as its a reward for Kishor who strategised Nitish's poll campaign, the move is also an attempt to annoy and humiliate PM Narendra Modi and BJP President Amit Shah.


Remember, Kishor led Modi to victory in the Lok Sabha elections with his Chai pe charcha and 3D hologram campaigns, but was dumped after the BJP swept the elections. Nitish's message to Modi with Kishor as a RS MP is this: Reward someone who helped you win.


Hectic lobbying has begun in New Delhi for the Rajya Sabha nominations. Lalu Prasad Yadav has openly declared that he will be interested in national politics and will take on Modi in Delhi.


But for that, Lalu needs a government bungalow in Lutyens Delhi to stay. And the way to get it is to field Rabri Devi is a Rajya Sabha candidate. If she is nominated, she is entitled to get a spacious type eight bungalow where Lalu can stay.


KC Tyagi who became a Rajya Sabha MP on a vacancy is likely to be fielded again.


While it's still early days, sources tell us Kapil Sibal is likely to get into the RS. Sibal is lobbying with the Congress to get a seat for him from Bihar. His argument is that he is the only one who can take on Arun Jaitley, who is the leader of the house in the Rajya Sabha, in a debtate. Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi is convinced, but not the Bihar Congress leadership.


The problem is that the list of aspirants for the Rajya Sabha from Bihar is now increasing. With 27 MLAs, the Congress will take second preference to the RJD's 80-seat win.

One person has died in Madikeri, Karnataka, when police lathi-charged protesters who were rallying against the state government's decision to celebrate Tipu Jayanti on November 10 to commemorate the Mysore ruler's 165th birth anniversary. Extra forces have been rushed to the spot.


The person is believed to be a Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) activist, who was found murdered in the area, only made the protests more violent. In Madikeri protestors pelted stones and were lathicharged by the police. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has called the death a minor incident.


An ideological war in underway in Karnataka, over the celebration of Tipu's birthday.


While Chief Minister Siddaramaiah feels that Tipu was a 'secular' ruler, Hindu-right organisations in the state and Catholics feel otherwise.


They cite historical accounts, which say that Tipu was a tyrant who killed, or converted by force thousands of non-Muslims, and also destroyed Churches and temples.The BJP is against the celebration.

Prashant Kishor, the man who put together Nitish Kumars campaign strategy for the Grand Alliance (Mahagathbandhan), in a professionally slick and agile package, has been getting calls from West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee.


West Bengal is due for polls next year and the Chief Minister has approached Kishor, the strategist who has two massive election victories in his bag.


While Kishor is yet to decide whether he will make a serious political intervention in Bihar or will continue to be a professional running the Indian Political Action Committee(I-Pac), has to remember that Lalu Prasad Yadav who is likely to play big brother in the Bihar assembly may not want him to continue as a strategist.


Kishor was hugged and feted publicly by Nitish Kumar as the result began pouring in indicating a big victory for the Grand Alliance. But Lalu Prasad took a light swat at Kishor when it seemed from the postal ballots that the BJP was winning. He called Kishor and said: tension not(sic). The import of Prasads mocking reference was that Kishor may think he contributed to the victory but he should leave politics to the politicians.

During a national election in India last year, Narendra Modi promised "development for all." As prime minister, he has yet to deliver big economic improvements, but in the meantime, members of his government and political party have shredded his promise of inclusion by inflaming sectarian tensions. Now, voters in the country's third most populous state have sent Mr. Modi a message: Put an end to the hate mongering.

Read the New York Times editorial cautioning the PM to mend his ways.

Now that Bihar has been lost, and badly at that, by the BJP, horror stories have started trickling in about the way the election was mismanaged by a person who had won laurels only 18 months ago for steering the partys Lok Sabha campaign and earned for himself the moniker Chanakya.


BJP chief Amit Shahs tactics of relying on outsiders over locals has earned a lot of flak, never mind that the party has officially blamed the social arithmetic from the alliance between Lalu Yadav and Nitish Kumar for the Bihar debacle.


Radhika Ramaseshan narrates one incident in The Telegraph, Kolkata, of Union minister Nitin Gadkari setting out for Bihar to campaign but being told by a member of Amit Shahs war-room at the last minute that his campaign for the day was off - no reasons given.

Gadkariji was stunned because no reasons were given. Before he could seek one, the caller switched off, a Gadkari aide said, she reports.

None of the BJP leaders she spoke to were willing to go on record -- such was the pervasive fear of Amit Shah.

If you check the political profile of the important members of the president's core team, you will find that none of them has proved his skill or worth in past elections or worked seriously on the ground. In that respect, unfortunately, our party is fast replicating the Congress, which traditionally rewards anything but merit and hard work, a Rajya Sabha MP of RSS provenance from a northern state tells Radhika.


A former Bihar MLA tells Radhika: We were regarded as useless people. The Delhi bosses only spoke to two or three state leaders like Sushil Modi and Mangal Pandey and ignored the rest. When that happened, many workers retired to their homes, thinking 'If there is no work for us, we may as well relax and spend time with our families'.


Radhikas report narrates instances of the wrong people from outside the state were sent out to campaign in Bihar either because their surname happened to be Yadav (like with Bhupender Yadav from Haryana), or their constituency boasted of Biharis (like with C R Patil from Gujarat), or for other silly reasons. The Mumbai BJP chief Ashish Shelar was stationed in Bihar for weeks, she writes, but no one knew what he was told to do.

You can read Radhikas shocking report here. 

Wearing green bands on their foreheads six or seven men surround a man dressed like a woman in a burqa, the face, too covered.In a celebrtory mood, the men dance around the burqa-clad man, repeatedly touch him and make inappropriate gestures. Standing behind the burqa-clad man, another man stretches his hands to cup the man's chest from behind. Another briefly lifts the man's clothes.The person is only too happy to be a part of the whole spectacle.As they are being videographed, the men call out to one "Sainaba" and say, "She lost the election. So we can do anything." Read more

While the Bharatiya Janata Party had an overall strike rate of 33% (53 seats out of 160 contested) in the recently concluded Bihar elections, an IndiaSpend analysis has found that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's strike rate was 45% (13 out of 29) i.e. success rate of the BJP in constituencies where Modi addressed rallies. Read more