(10 Nov) Patna: Though the official announcement is awaited, JD(U) Nitish Kumar in all likelihood would take oath as the new chief minister of Bihar on November 20. “People are busy with Diwali and after that comes the Chhath festival which ends on November 18. So oath of the new government in all likelihood will be administered after Chhath,” state JD(U) President Basistha Narayan Singh told PTI.

It is yet to be decided as to which constituent party would the speaker be from and if Lalu Prasad’s son Tejaswi would be made the deputy chief minister. This would be the fifth time that Kumar would take oath as chief minister. His first stint was in 2000 when he headed a government for only seven days. He rode to power in Novermber 2005 and again in 2010. In February 2015 he took oath for the high office for the fourth time after Jitan Ram Manjhi was removed from the chair. Bihar JD(U) chief Basistha Narayan Singh said though decision would be taken by the leaders of Congress it would be better if all three partners are part of the state government. “We have fought together and it would be good for them (Congress) too that they be part of the government,” he said. Singh refused to confirm media reports that a criteria of one minister on every five MLAs is being fixed for selection of ministers in the new Nitish Kumar government

Myanmar’s ruling party says it has lost the general election, with early results suggesting a landslide win for Aung San Suu Kyi’s opposition National League for Democracy (NLD).

Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) leader Htay Oo said the government would accept the result of the country’s first free national election in 25 years.

Key points:

NLD secures all 12 of first upper house seats announced in early results
Government spokesman says he is surprised by the scale of losses
Opposition needs 67 per cent of available parliamentary seats to win majority
“We lost,” Mr Htay Oo, a close ally of president Thein Sein told Reuters news agency.

“We have to find out the reason why we lost.”

The country’s official election commission has been announcing the results of Sunday’s election, constituency-by-constituency, as they trickle in.

In the first batch, the NLD won all 12 of the seats announced. In the next, it won 14 of the 16 official tallies.

Mr Oo said he was surprised by the scale of his defeat in his own parliamentary constituency in Hinthada, in the delta region, considered the heartland of the USDP’s rural support base.

“I wasn’t expecting it because we were able to do a lot for the people in this region.” he said.

“Anyway, it’s the decision of the people.”

Suu Kyi’s opposition has commanding lead: spokesman

Earlier, NLD party spokesman Win Htein said his party had won more than 80 per cent of the votes counted so far in the densely populated central regions.

Exiles come in from the cold

Political exiles are returning to Myanmar to fight for a place in their home country’s emerging democracy, freelance contributor Kayleigh Long writes.
Outside the central area, the NLD had so far won more than 65 per cent of votes cast in the states of Mon and Kayin, he said.

Results from the five other states were not yet known, he added.

The central area is made up of seven administrative divisions.

The NLD needs 67 per cent of available parliamentary seats to enjoy a majority.

That would be enough to overwhelm the USDP, whose military allies are gifted 25 per cent of seats under the constitution.

Ms Suu Kyi addressed her supporters at NLD party headquarters after the vote closed and called for dignity and restraint.

“The loser has to accept the result bravely, with pride and the true winner should be humble,” she said.

She said it was too early then to say whether her party had secured the landslide victory it expected.

Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party is on track for an election victory, but even an absolute majority will not give her the right to govern.
Whatever the result, Myanmar is heading into a period of uncertainty over how Ms Suu Kyi and other ascendant parties might negotiate sharing power with the still-dominant military.

Even if she gets the majority she needs, Ms Suu Kyi is barred from taking the presidency herself under the constitution written by the junta to preserve its power.

Ms Suu Kyi has said she would be the power behind the new president regardless of a constitution she has derided as “very silly”.

The military will, however, retain significant power. It is guaranteed key ministerial positions.

The constitution gives it the right to take over the government under certain circumstances, and it also has a grip on the economy through holding companies.

Sulking BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha on Monday claimed the Bihar poll results could have been different for his party had he been projected as the chief ministerial candidate. “I am not bragging, but I do feel that when the darling (laadla) of Bihar people, the dhartiputra (son of the soil) and the original ‘Bihari babu’ was deliberately sidelined, it definitely had an impact on my supporters and fans. “I can’t say how much difference it could have been, but I can definitely say, some difference would have been there. We could have definitely got more seats than what we got,” he told Rajat Sharma in ‘Aap ki Adalat’ programme on IndiaTV, according to a press release issued by the channel.

Asked whether he was unhappy for not being made a Minister at the Centre, he said,”These are all stale dialogues, planted by vested interests. Some people grabbed too many posts, they started saying I am unhappy because I was not made a Minister. Sinha said, “You don’t get feathers of gold on you when you become a minister, but yes, when I was not made a minister, my fans, supporters, my relatives, friends and my voters began thinking why was I not made a minister. What was my sin? Was my performance not good as a Health Minister, or whether I did not perform well in the Shipping Ministry.”

He said, “I know, and I console them by saying it is Prime Minister’s prerogative to select a minister. I am not challenging his wisdom, but simultaneously I console them, if not today, tomorrow (may be I become a minister).” On his name not figuring in the posters and banners during Bihar polls, he said, “Several times they (supporters, fans) felt I was being deliberately sidelined, for some particular reason, on which I will not speak much”.

The Patna Sahib MP also did not approve of making the Prime Minister the sole campaigner for the party but said, had he not campaigned the BJP would not even have got the seats it won. “Is it the right method? Could we not lessen the Prime Minister’s burden? Could we not been brought to the front? But why, I think you know the reason better,” he said, seeking accountability being fixed and action taken against those responsible for the defeat.

Hitting out at the party leadership for inducting leaders from outside to micromanage the campaign in Bihar, he said they were brought in from Punjab, Maharashtra and Delhi, “who were completely out of touch with grassroots workers and ground reality, who did not understand the caste equations here.” Sinha said, “these people stationed here for months together, so much money, talent and energy were spent, and what was the result?…We do not learn from the earlier defeat in Delhi. It showed desperation. We lost badly and that makes me sad.”

RSS ideologue MG Vaidya on Monday said that it would not be appropriate to hold the sangh responsible for the NDA’s dismal show in the Bihar Assembly polls and added that it was for the BJP to decide whether it is the ‘ghulam’ of the voluntary non-governmental organisation which lays thrust on the principle of selfless service to India.

Vaidya downplayed assertions that RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat pitching for a review of the reservation policy had cost the BJP in the Bihar Assembly elections.

“The BJP had said it repeatedly that they are not in favour of bringing an end to reservation, but their assertions did not reflect on the votes. The Sangh does not decide its policies? Our policies are based on what is right for the nation. We speak what is right for the society and nation,” Vaidya said.

The RSS ideologue further said it is for the BJP to decide whether they would want to go ahead with the RSS ideology.

“It is for the BJP to decide. The Sangh will present its issues?.We say what is right for the society. The BJP should decide whether they are ‘ghulam’ of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangha or not,” said Vaidya.