Troubled waters in days ahead for Cong-RJD understanding in Bihar

The Congress-Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) understanding in Bihar will likely face more trouble in the days ahead. The two parties came to an agreement that Alinagar's Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) Abdul Bari Siddiqui would contest the Darbhanga seat, leaving two-term incumbent Kirti Jha Azad fuming. Azad, who won on the BJP ticket in 2014, recently jumped ship and joined the Congress. The Congress brass is looking for a seat to accommodate Azad. He is unlikely to be fielded from nearby Madhubani or Jhanjaharpur either, with the RJD firmly dismissing his candidature.

Another scheme

This is the season of giving and it simply doesn't matter if you don't have a real plan. Now the Communist Party of India (Marxist) government in Kerala has said it would offer farmers a minimum support price that is 50 per cent above the cost of production, Rs 18,000 in minimum wages, and Rs 6,000 as minimum welfare pension. Thomas Isaac, Kerala finance minister, said the package his party was proposing was better than the income support scheme of the Congress because the CPI (M) did have a strategy for resource mobilisation. And that includes raising taxes on the rich and on corporate profits, restoring the wealth tax for the super-rich, the introduction of the inheritance tax and restoring the long-term capital gains tax.

Forbidden line

If a topic ignites Twitter, social media teams of various police units in the country barely let it go unutilised. The Kolkata Police (KP) was quick to lap up the hotly debated 'Mankad' controversy from this week’s Indian Premier League match between Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab in Jaipur. Drawing an analogy between Jos Buttler's dismissal in that match — who was controversially run out by the opposition captain Ravichandran Ashwin — and traffic violation, KP put a screenshot of the dismissal on Twitter along with a photo that showed a car crossing the stop line at a traffic signal. The message in Bangla read: "Crease or road, you will regret if you cross the line." This brought back memories of the Jaipur Police using the infamous no-ball that Indian pacer Jasprit Bumrah had bowled in the 2017 Champions Trophy final to give a similar message. Bumrah had not taken it kindly and had expressed his displeasure on Twitter. Wonder if Ashwin, usually an active and chirpy social media user, has taken note of the KP post.