Congress MP Rahul Gandhi has sparked a fresh controversy with his remarks suggesting that only a small section of the population — primarily from upper castes — dominates key institutions in India, including the armed forces, reports said.
Predominance of caste system has been stated to be the bane of Bihar, but it’s forthcoming election is witnessing regional allies of BJP and Congress getting a lion’s share of seats lest the caste equation go awry. Keenly aware of the deciding role of caste in voting behaviour, the leadership of both the national level parties have left the constituencies reserved for Scheduled Caste candidates to the regional allies.
Responding to Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s remarks that the National Education Policy 2020 and the PM SHRI initiative had been brought in by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party to “brainwash children according to their own ideology”, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Thursday (October 30, 2025) referred to this as a “glaring display of ignorance and political opportunism”.
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.
Jharkhand’s ruling JMM announced that it would not contest the assembly elections in neighbouring Bihar, claiming that the decision was taken in the wake of a “political conspiracy” by its allies RJD and Congress, which deprived it of seats as part of the Mahagathbandhan.
Opposition parties in Maharashtra will hold a grand rally on November 1 to urge the Election Commission of India (ECI) to remove around “one crore bogus voters” from the electoral rolls, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut said on Sunday (October 19, 2025).
