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Amid a political crisis in Bihar, Chief Minister and Janata Dal (United) chief Nitish Kumar has sought an appointment with Governor Phagu Chauhan, news agency ANI. The move is being seen as JD(U) breaking away with the BJP, ending the ruling alliance in the state, sources told ABP News, adding that Nitish may join hands with a ‘mahagathbandhan’ with the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) as its major stakeholder. The meeting will take place at 4 pm, which the CM is expected to attend with RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, the sources said.

Prior to the meeting, Nalanda MLA Kaushalendra claimed that “BJP tried to break the JD(U)”.

CM Nitish Kumar likely to meet Governor Phagu Chauhan at 4 pm amid intense political activity in Bihar: Sources

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) August 9, 2022

The meeting is taking place after the resignation of RCP Singh, who headed the JD(U) for the last one-and-a-half years. After Singh resigned from the party, the sources said, he had been in touch with some MLAs raising doubts that the BJP could bring in a ‘Maharashtra MVA-like situation’. This was what prompted Nitish Kumar to call a meeting of party MLAs and MPs.

Simultaneously, the Rashtriya Janata Dal is also holding a party meeting of its legislators on the orders of Tejashwi Yadav at his mother and former CM Rabri Devi’s residence.

A day earlier, RJD national vice-president Shivanand Tiwary had said the party is ready to “embrace” JD(U) if Nitish Kumar agrees to break ranks with its ally.

Amid the political conundrum, a section of the media also reported that Nitish Kumar spoke to Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi over the phone. The Bihar Congress, however, did not confirm this. “We are yet to get official info on Nitish Kumar speaking with Sonia Gandhi but we don’t contradict it,” ANI had quoted Bihar Congress chief Madan Mohan Jha as saying.

Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio on Monday expressed hope for a solution to the Naga political problem, inter-State boundary issues, and removal of Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act from the entire State.

Addressing people on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the country’s Independence and the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav celebration in the State capital, the Chief Minister said the Naga people want an “early, inclusive, honourable and acceptable solution” to the Naga political problem.

“The elected representatives have been actively facilitating and urging the negotiating parties to realise the long-standing dream of our people without any delay,” he said.

All the elected representatives, representing the people of Nagaland, have also come together and stated in clear terms that they will “make way” once the solution is reached, the Chief Minister said.

He appealed to the people to be patient and accommodating and urged the negotiators to listen to the voice of the people, by rising above all differences for an immediate solution.

The Centre has been holding separate talks with the Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagalim (Isak-Muivah) since 1997 and the Naga National Political group (NNPG), a conglomerate of Naga groups from 2017.

It signed the Framework Agreement with NSCN(IM) in August 2015 and an Agreed Position with NNPG in November 2017.

However, no final solution has been achieved as the NSCN(IM) has been persistent in its demand for a separate flag and constitution for the Naga people.

On the law and order front, the Chief Minister said due to the sincere efforts of the District Administration, police, security agencies, and civil society organisations in the past few years, peace was prevailing in the State.

“The tranquil atmosphere existing in the state got further vindicated when after many decades 15 police station areas of Nagaland in April were denotified from being disturbed and thus taken out of the purview of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA).

“We are hopeful that more areas will come out of the ambit of AFSPA soon,” he said.

The AFSPA empowers security forces to conduct operations and arrest anyone without any prior warrant. It also gives immunity to the forces if they shoot someone dead.

On inter-State borders, the Chief Minister said the government has always been desirous of resolving the long-standing border dispute with neighbouring States.

The Nagaland Assembly had constituted a “Cabinet Select Committee”, headed by him, to examine the border issue.

The Select Committee, he said, was making efforts to amicably resolve the issue outside the Court.

“We are very hopeful of amicably settling all our disputes when our Nation is celebrating the 75th anniversary of its Independence,” he said.

Listing the other achievements of the State, he said as a result of various government interventions, Nagaland has been consistently increasing its food grain production which now stands at 7,38,260 MT.

“Our farmers have successfully adopted horticulture crops such as pineapple, kiwi, passion fruit, and dragon fruit while plantation crops such as coffee and tea have also been successfully grown. These fruits are attracting premium buyers from India and abroad, and we cannot meet the demand,” he said.

To provide inclusive healthcare coverage to the entire population of the State, the government is gearing up to launch the Chief Minister Health Insurance Scheme (CMHIS) on October 2.

In accordance with the National Education Policy, the Department of School Education has been focusing on providing quality education to all students including those in the remotest parts of the State, he said. On developing sports infrastructure throughout the State, Mr. Rio said that modern indoor stadiums are being set up at various places.

The Chief Minister also pointed out that the State needs to attract investments across sectors to grow much faster and create more employment opportunities for youths.

“We need to continuously build our capacities, especially the capacities and skills of our youth, to enable their inherent talent to blossom, in order to benefit and also contribute towards faster economic growth,” he said.

For achieving the goal, Mr. Rio called upon every citizen to work for making Nagaland one of the most developed and progressive State in the country.

Recalling the role of freedom fighters, the Chief Minister said “India achieved independence after a long struggle, and on this historic occasion, we again remember with the utmost gratitude the freedom fighters, who gave their all, many even laying down their lives, to get freedom for all of us”.

Noting that Nagaland, along with the rest of the country, has made good progress, he said ever since the State was formed in 1963, successive governments have contributed to development efforts.

Despite around five percent of Sweden’s total population living in migrant majority areas, just two percent of the candidates running for Sweden’s national election next month live in such areas.

Using data from Statistics Sweden, a new report from Swedish broadcaster SVT shows that few political candidates, only two percent of regular candidates and one percent of “top candidates” actually live in migrant areas despite many on the left being the largest advocates for mass migration into the country.

Many of the heavily migrant populated areas are also classified as  “vulnerable” or known as no-go areas like the Stockholm suburbs of Rinkeby, Husby and Tensta or the Malmö suburb of Rosengard due to high levels of crime and unemployment. Malmo, which has one of Sweden’s largest migrant-background populations, has an unemployment rate double the Swedish average .

Sweden’s Population Growth Second Highest in EU Due to Mass Migration https://t.co/6UwY0IEvc3

— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) July 12, 2017

“I think it is important that, when discussing these areas in the political debate, there is representation from here, it is important both for democracy but also for a comprehensive picture,” said Social Democrat lawyer Lawen Redar from Kista, which neighbours both Husby and Rinkeby.

University of Gothenburg professor of political science Peter Esaiasson argued that without people from vulnerable areas in parliament it would be harder to assess the situation there as to whether people were being alarmist about an area or not sounding the alarm enough about hidden problems.

In the past several left-wing and feminist politicians have tried to enact change in no-go areas on a local level with the local authority in Husby attempting to implement “feminist urban planning” to improve the safety and quality of life for women in the area.

Feminist and former Left Party politician Zeliha Dagli lived in one of the vulnerable areas, the Stockholm no-go suburb of Husby, and announced last March that she was moving due to constant harassment and threats from fundamentalist Muslim migrants.

Follow Chris Tomlinson on Twitter at @TomlinsonCJ or email at ctomlinson(at)breitbart.com