Former Indian cricket captain and the Congress government’s MLC nominee, Md Azharuddin, is likely to be inducted into the state Cabinet led by Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, in a move seen as politically significant ahead of the Jubilee Hills byelection.

The Opposition Mahagathbandhan on Tuesday released its manifesto for the Bihar Assembly polls, promising a government job to one member of every family, restoration of the old pension scheme, 200 units of free power to each household, lift ban on toddy and a monthly allowance of Rs.2,500 under Mai Bahin Yojna for women. The NDA alliance termed the manifesto a “bundle of lies”.

The principal rival fronts in Bihar have finally announced incumbent Nitish Kumar and Tejashwi Yadav as their respective chief ministerial candidates after weeks of speculation and haggling. The National Democratic Alliance (NDA), around the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-Janata Dal (United) axis, and the Mahagatbandhan, or Grand Alliance, around the Indian National Congress-Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) axis, are caught in their internal games of one-upmanship.

After months of uncertainty and prolonged seat-sharing talks, the Opposition I.N.D.I.A. bloc on Thursday announced RJD leader and former deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav as its chief ministerial candidate for the upcoming Bihar Assembly elections, a move seen as a last-ditch effort to project unity and end internal squabbles ahead of the polls. 

As tensions simmered within the Mahagathbandhan over the failure to arrive at a formal seat-sharing pact for the upcoming Bihar Assembly polls, senior Congress leader Ashok Gehlot met RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav on Wednesday in a bid to ease friction within the alliance.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressing “surprise and shock” at the Centre’s unilateral appointment of an interlocutor for the “issues relating to Gurkhas in Darjeeling hills, Terai and Dooars regions of West Bengal”.