Throwing his hat in the ring for prime ministership, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Thursday said that he was more qualified than many other aspirants.

Explaining why he is a better choice for the top job, Nitish said, “I am more qualified than those roaming around for the post of prime minister.”

Nitish was speaking during his ‘sankalp yatra’ held in Bettiah to demand special category status for Bihar.

Without naming either the BJP Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi or Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi, he said “While one does not have the experience of Parliament another has no experience of running a state…I have both experiences …Am I less qualified than them?”

On a pointed question regarding his PM ambitions, the Chief Minister said his party JD(U) was small and modest and did not make tall claims, but believed in working for the people.

Coming from Nitish, who is known to be cautious in airing his views, the assertion is of immense political importance.

It indicates that the newly resurrected Third Front would find it even more difficult to arrive at a consensus in choosing a PM if the formation comes to power or forms a government with outside support from the Congress.

Nitish with his clean image and proven expertise in governance may emerge as the most powerful claimant.

Nitish has harboured prime ministerial ambitions for long and had walked out of the NDA after he sensed that Narendra Modi was being favoured as the PM candidate.

In the line of fire for failing to take action against his party MLA Irfan Solanki in connection with the doctors’ strike in the state, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav on Thursday hit out at the media.

When questioned by reporters on the issue, Mulayam hit back saying “why is the media giving importance to the doctors’ strike?”
When reporters pointed out that over 50 people have died in the state due to the strike that started on March 1, the SP chief asked: “Has someone from the family of any media men died due to the strike?”

“If you stop publishing reports of the strike, deaths would automatically come down,” Mulayam said further.

He refused to comment on SP legislator Irfan Solanki.

Doctors in Uttar Pradesh earlier today called off their strike, a day after the Allahabad High Court directed them to return to work.

They had gone on strike on March 1 after supporters of the legislator and Solanki himself bashed up some junior doctors at the Hallet Hospital in Kanpur on February 28.

The subsequent cane charge by police angered the junior doctors further and doctors across the state joined the strike.

The Lucknow bench of the high court also ordered a judicial probe into the doctors’ grievances and the police lathicharge on them.

The court had also ordered the transfer of the inspector general, deputy inspector general, and Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) of Kanpur Yashaswi Yadav.

Further, 24 jailed doctors have been released unconditionally.

Senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj on Thursday opposed BJP’s proposed alliance or merger the BSR Congress in Karnataka.

“I am opposed to the BSR alliance or merger with BJP in Karnataka,” Sushma tweeted this morning.

In what was being seen as a boost to BJP ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, BSR Congress leader B Sriramulu announced that his party was merging with the national party over two years after he had quit the saffron outfit.

“I have decided to rejoin BJP because people of the country want to see Narendra Modi as prime minister,” Sriramulu said.

The BSR Congress’ decision came close on the heels of merger of Karnataka Janata Paksha of former chief minister BS Yeddyurappa with BJP.

Sriramulu had claimed that several BJP leaders, including Sushma Swaraj, Rajnath Singh and Nitin Gadkari had agreed to the merger.

Contrary to the claims, Sushma opposed any such move.

The BJP leader also opposed the move of former Union minister Venod Sharma, who quit the Congress, to join the Kuldeep Bishnoi-led Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC).

“I am strongly opposed to this. I have conveyed my views to Shri Kuldeep Bishnoi,” she tweeted. “I have conveyed to Shri Raj Nath Singhji in writing that BJP must not permit this.”

Post his joining the HJC, Sharma is tipped to be the BJP-HJC candidate from Karnal Lok Sabha constituency.

It may be noted that Sharma’s son Manu is in a Delhi jail in connection with the murder of model Jessica Lall in 1999.

Reports have claimed that former Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh my fight the 2014 Lok Sabha polls on a Congress ticket.

As per party sources, Amar Singh may be named the Congress candidate from Gautam Budh Nagar constituency.

The party is expected to take a final decision on the matter at a meeting.

Earlier, there was speculation that Congress could field Thakur Dhirender Singh from the constituency.

While Samajwadi Party has declared Narender Bhati as its candidate from the constituency, BSP is likely to field sitting MP Surender Singh Nagar. The BJP is mulling over the name of Dr Mahesh Sharma.

Kiran Kumar Reddy, who resigned as chief minister of Andhra Pradesh after failing to prevent its bifurcation, has decided to launch his own party ahead of the national election.

Mr. Reddy, 53, quit the Congress last month after parliament cleared his party’s proposal to carve out Telangana as a new southern state.

Mr. Reddy, like many other leaders who are not from Telangana, had vehemently opposed the division, and urged the Congress leadership in Delhi to withdraw its plans. Mr. Reddy has also challenged the bifurcation of his state in the Supreme Court; his case will be heard on Friday.

The new state of Telangana will be officially born on June 2, which means that Andhra Pradesh will vote undivided for the state election which will be held simultaneously with the national election.

“Whoever is elected MLA (state legislator) as per law will automatically become member of the concerned state,” said Chief Election Commissioner VS Sampath.

The Congress sanctioned a decades-long movement for a Telangana state in the hope of being rewarded by voters in the region in the election, but it failed in its plans to launch the new state before voting is held.

The two non-Telangana regions, referred to as Seemandhra, will constitute the down-sized state of Andhra Pradesh.

Andhra Pradesh in its current form has 42 parliamentary seats, of which 17 lie in Telangana. While Telangana will vote on April 30, Seemandhra votes on May 7.

Congress leader Purandeswari, the daughter of famous actor-politician NTR, says she wants to join the BJP, and will formally approach the party on Friday.

Till late last month, the 55-year-old was a union minister. She resigned in protest against the Congress’ decision to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh and carve out the region of Telangana as a new state.

Purandeswari, like other Congress leaders who faced-off with the party over its new mapping of the state, is not from Telangana, which for decades has complained of the exploitation of its resources by the two other regions referred to as Seemandhra.

The BJP supported the proposal for the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, allowing it to clear parliament. But the party said that it would lobby hard to ensure special economic packages for the non-Telangana regions that will remain in the edited state of Andhra Pradesh.

Purandeswari shares a fraught relationship with her brother-in-law, Chandrabau Naidu, who is chief of the regional Telugu Desam Party or TDP, which was founded by her father, NTR. There are reports that Mr Naidu will ally with the BJP for the election.

That could help Purandeswari. She belongs to the Kamma caste, which is a strong supporter of the TDP. She has for years represented Visakhapatnam in Parliament, and hopes to contest the national election from the same constituency.

She said that in Delhi tomorrow, she will meet with senior BJP leaders like Rajnath Singh and LK Advani to offer her unconditional support.

Lok Janshakti Party leader Ram Vilas Paswan, who stunned political circles last week by re-joining the BJP-led NDA 12 years after jettisoning it over Narendra Modi’s failure to contain the communal conflagration in his state, has said that he had no option but to switch sides after being insulted by both the Congress and Rashtriya Janata Dal, or the RJD.

“There was no other option. I was insulted by both the Congress and the RJD,” Mr. Paswan told, adding, “The UPA mistreats its allies. The NDA treats its allies better. Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi never share stage with their allies, while the BJP promotes its allies.”

To buttress his argument, the former union minister cited the example of the BJP’s decision, made on the eve of the February, 2005 assembly polls in Bihar, to anoint Nitish Kumar, the de-facto head of Janata Dal (United), as the NDA’s chief ministerial candidate.

The LJP founder’s remarks drawing a comparison between the NDA and the UPA are significant, as he had always held the Congress president on a very high pedestal, and insisted that he would act on her advice. It was Mrs. Gandhi who had taken the initiative of walking up to Mr. Paswan’s residence at 12, Jan Path on January 1, 2004 to stitch up a pre-poll alliance with the LJP. The partnership between the two parties had paved the way for the formation of UPA.

Mr. Paswan’s son Chirag vowed to put up candidates with a clean image in the coming Lok Sabha polls. The LJP has often been accused by its rivals of being the party of Paswans and criminals. Of the seven Lok Sabha constituencies earmarked for it, three (Hajipur, Jamui and Samastipur) will be contested by members of Mr. Paswan’s family, while Vaishali and Monghyr are being coveted by Rama Singh and Suraj Bhan Singh, who have several criminal cases pending against them.

The Jammu and Kashmir government and the opposition came together on Thursday to decry the action taken against some Kashmiri students in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, for reportedly cheering Pakistan during a cricket match.
J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah reacted strongly, tweeting, “Sedition charge against Kashmiri students is an unacceptably harsh punishment that will ruin there futures and will further alienate them. I believe the University did what it had to control the situation but this action by the UP Govt is uncalled for and should be reversed.”
Omar was joined in the attack by Naeem Akhtar of opposition PDP, who said, “When Rahul or (Uttar Pradesh CM) Akhilesh (Yadav) cheer Pakistani team from stands, it’s a fashion statement. When Kashmiri students do it, it’s sedition.”
Akhilesh had defended action against the students who were suspended from the Swami Vivekanand Subharti University after they reportedly cheered for Pakistan during the India-Pakistan Asia Cup match on Sunday. They were also asked to leave Meerut.
However, Omar spoke to Akhilesh on Thursday and said that the UP CM had assured him that he will “personally look into the matter”.

Asaram launched a book named ‘Wonders of Asaram Bapu’ inside police vehicle on Thursday.

Asaram was being taken for hearing to Jodhpur’s sessions court in a sexual assault case.

He was booked by the Jodhpur Police for alleged sexual assault on a 16-year-old girl at his Manai ashram near Jodhpur on August 15 last year.

He has been in judicial custody since September 2, as the high court has rejected his bail plea twice since then.

In a major setback for the Left ahead of the crucial general elections, the AIADMK has decided to break its alliance with it.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa decided to part ways after the two Left parties, which contested three seats each in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, refused to compromise on numbers. The AIADMK never went beyond offering them more than one seat each.

However, Jayalalithaa has said that AIADMK won’t enter in a pre-poll alliance with any political party.
The Left leaders are though still looking forward to contest elections together and are scheduled to hold a meeting today.

Meanwhile, according to the poll tracker findings, Tamil Nadu is unlikely to throw up any surprises this time where Chief Minister Jayalalithaa-led ruling AIADMK looks stronger and is expected to maintain its lead in the general elections.

While the AIADMK is expected to win 15-23, the DMK 7-13, Congress 1-5 and others may bag 4-10 seats according to the projections provided by Chennai Mathematical Institute’s Director Professor Rajeeva Karandikar.