Come January 15 and it is not unusual for Bahujan Samaj Party president and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati to show her paranoia invariably on account of the perennial accusation that the collection of money for her birthday 'gift', more often than not, culminates into extortion.
On her birthday, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati had an answer for each of her detractors: the Samjawadi Party, the Bhartiya Janata Party and the Congress. "If Congressmen have a problem with my celebrating my birthday, then we could also observe Congress president Sonia Gandhi's birthday as ghulami diwas (slavery day) - considering she is a person of foreign origin, for which she has always been targeted by other opposition parties", Mayawati said.
In the backdrop of an outcry by the opposition over alleged extortion by Bahujan Samajwadi Party cadres for her birthday celebrations, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Thursday claimed there was not even the "remotest link" between her birthday and the killing of the PWD engineer in Auriyya.
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband on Thursday made it quite eviodent that he did not favour India's repeated demand to seek custody of the alleged Pakistani perpetrators of the Mumbai terrorist attacks
The Uttar Pradesh government may be spending nearly Rs 1500 crore on memorials and parks, but it has not been able to provide clean drinking water to even 10 per cent of its 18 crore population. According to him, "Around half the women in 15-50 age group and 85 per cent of children under 3 years of age suffer from anaemia and nearly 50 per cent of UP's children are stunted and underweight."
Arrested ruling Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MLA Shekhar Tiwari on Friday confessed that he had beaten and tortured PWD executive engineer Manoj Kumar Gupta until he succumbed to his wounds in the early hours of December 24 in Auraiya in central Uttar Pradesh.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances