The BJP and Nitish Kumar in Bihar are going to stick to the 2020 formula to share the cabinet berths in Bihar, sources have said. The Bihar Chief Minister switched sides last week — the fifth time in a decade — and formed a new government in partnership with the BJP, which he dumped in 2022.

He took oath yesterday with two deputies from the BJP, who, sources said, were deputed by the party “to keep an eye” on the 72-year-old dubbed “Paltu Kumar” by many for his frequent flip-flops.

The Council of Ministers will be expanded over the next few days, sources said, and the allocation of portfolios will take place after that. The crucial home department will stay with Mr Kumar.
In the coming days, the two sides will also discuss seat sharing for the Lok Sabha polls, but the earlier 17-17 formula for Bihar’s 40 parliamentary seats will have to be tweaked, sources indicated.

This is because seats will also have to be allocated for the new allies, including Jitan Ram Manjhi’s HAM.

Mr Kumar, sources said, had made up his mind to quit the Opposition on January 13, the day they were holding a video meet. Furious with Rahul Gandhi, he had left the meet 10 minute early.

Sources said what drove him to the final step was a response by Mr Gandhi that he would consult Mamata Banerjee on the post of the coordinator for the INDIA bloc. Shortly after that, the leaders chose him as the convenor. But angry, Mr Kumar rejected the post, saying it can be given to Lalu Yadav, sources said.  

For chairman post, the suggestion was Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, whose name was also proposed by Ms Banerjee and Arvind Kejriwal at an earlier meeting as the Opposition’s Prime Ministerial candidate.

For Mr Kumar, it was the other big letdown since he was counting on being projected for the job, sources earlier told NDTV.

While announcing the break-up over the weekend, Mr Kumar had said he was unhappy with the way things were progressing at the Opposition camp.

A bureaucrat was killed by her unemployed husband at her home in Madhya Pradesh yesterday. The man even tried to hide the evidence and distract the police by lying to them about the manner of death. Manish Sharma was upset because sub-divisional magistrate Nisha Napit – posted in Shahpura in Dindori district – didn’t name him her nominee in her service book, insurance and bank account, police said.

He smothered her with a pillow and after that washed her blood-stained clothes to destroy all evidence. The police also found a pillow cover and bedsheet in a washing machine at the bureaucrat’s home.

The development comes after Ms Napit’s sister, Nilima Napit, accused Mr Sharma of murdering her and claimed that he used to torture her for money.

“He used to harass Nisha for money. My sister did not have any disease. Manish has done something wrong. He even didn’t let the house help enter Nisha’s room,” she claimed.

The 45-year-old has been arrested and a case registered against him under sections 302,304 B and 201 of IPC.

Nisha Napit and Manish Sharma, who had met on a matrimonial site, got married in 2020. The family was not a part of the wedding as she told us about it much later, Ms Napit’s sister claimed.

On Sunday, the husband took the official to a hospital around 4 pm where she was declared dead on arrival. Police reached the hospital as soon as they got the news of her death.

Even though Mr Sharma tried to paint it as a normal death and said she was suffering from a kidney ailment, the officer’s sister refused to buy her theory. “I am sure her husband murdered her. He used to torture her physically and mentally,” she told media yesterday.

When the police asked Mr Sharma about her wife’s sudden death, he cooked up an elaborate story: “She was suffering from a kidney ailment. She was keeping a fast on Saturday, She vomited at night after which she was given some medicine”. She didn’t wake up the next day, he claimed.

“I didn’t wake up in the morning and she didn’t have any work as it was a Sunday. I went for a walk after the maid came at 10 am. When I came back at 2 pm, she still hadn’t woken up. I tried to wake her up, gave her CPR. I called the doctor who asked me to take her to a hospital,” he claimed.

When the doctors checked her at the hospital, they found her bleeding from her nose and mouth. The police soon after arrested Mr Sharma based on her post-mortem report, witness statements and probing the crime spot.

Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Mukesh Shrivastava praised the investigating team for solving the case in 24 hours and announced a reward of Rs 20,000.

Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren’s whereabouts created a great concern in the offices of the Enforcement Directorate today as the agency went to his Delhi residence for a search. Mr Soren was not at home and the agency, after conducting a search, seized some documents and his BMW car that they claimed were bought using illegal funds. But the officials, who wanted to record Mr Soren’s statement, were left in the dark on his whereabouts.

So far, the Chief Minister has evaded seven summons for questioning and sources said he is prepping to challenge the ED’s summons in court.

The investigating team went to Jharkhand Bhawan and his father’s residence at Motilal Nehru Marg. But Mr Soren could not be found there either. His chartered plane remained parked at the Delhi Airport.

Some officers of the agency were camping outside his house till late night.

A mail from the Chief Minister’s Office, however, reached the ED, informing them that they can interrogate him at 1 pm on January 31 — the last day of the time allotted to him — at his home in Ranchi.

Read | Hemant Soren Gives Date To Probe Agency For Questioning In Land Scam Case

Sources said Mr Soren is getting ready to move the Supreme Court tomorrow to challenge the ED’s summons. He was last questioned in Ranchi on January 20 in the money laundering case in connection with an alleged land deal.

Under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act or PMLA, a person’s statement has to be recorded before any arrest, Mr Soren can be arrested if his compliance is in doubt, sources said.

The Rs 600-crore scam involves a “huge racket” to change of ownership of government land, which was subsequently sold to builders, the agency has alleged.

Read | Probe Agency Team Visits Hemant Soren’s Delhi Home In Case Linked To Land Scam

The agency has so far arrested 14 people in the case, including 2011-batch IAS officer Chhavi Ranjan who served as the director of the state Social Welfare Department and deputy commissioner of Ranchi.

Mr Soren has claimed that he is the target of a huge conspiracy.

“A conspiracy was hatched against me, but the final nail in the coffin of the conspirators will be put by us… We will not be scared, your leader will face the bullets first and keep your morale high,” he told the workers of his Jharkhand Mukti Morcha last week.