With the 2024 Lok Sabha elections less than eight months away, the SP is experimenting with yet another template of combining a soft Hindutva tenor with its time-tested Muslim-Yadav combination to reclaim its lost political capital vis-a-vis the BJP.

'With Ramaland, the tourism department is looking to attract children and adults alike. It'll be learning with entertainment.'

'The CM wants to develop a Film City that would provide the entire value chain of film-making services and infrastructure in one place.'

The Samajwadi Party is unwilling to cede ground to the BJP, especially in Amethi, since the Congress is too weak to counter the BJP's well-oiled election machinery.

The temple town is likely to witness a major jump in tourist inflow once flagship projects are commissioned. In the first six months of 2022, more than 20 million tourists visited Ayodhya.

RSS General Secretary Dattatreya Hosabale met with the leadership of the UP BJP, including Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Deputy Chief Ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak, state BJP President Bhupendra Chaudhary and state BJP General Secretary (Organisation) Dharmapal.

'The BJP would like to build a 'rainbow' coalition of different castes and communities buttressed by the appeal of nationalism and Hindutva.'

What does Neal Mohan, anointed the next CEO of YouTube, have in common with Sir Cliff Richard? They are alumni of St Francis' College. Mohan, who will take over the reins of the social media platform, is arguably the second most high-profile personality after the British music icon to be associated with the all-boys institution ensconced in the heart of Lucknow.

Espousing an aggressive pro-backward and Dalit stance synchronising with the Maurya controversy, the SP has thrown down the gauntlet with Akhilesh upping the ante on the burning topic, reports Virendra Singh Rawat.

While Brijlal Khabri, former BSP MP from Jalaun, is UP Congress Committee chairman, former UP cabinet minister and Mayawati's once close confidant Naseemuddin Siddiqui heads the party's state media department. Completing the ex-BSP troika, Nakul Dubey, former UP cabinet minister in the Mayawati dispensation (2007-12), is one of the six UP Congress regional presidents. He is reckoned among the most active of the three.

The ruling BJP is confident of bettering its 2017 performance, especially with the new UP party chief, Bhupendra Chaudhary, at the helm of affairs, reports Virendra Singh Rawat.

After launching expressway projects worth almost Rs 1 trillion, the Uttar Pradesh government is now betting big on the aviation sector to propel the state's economic growth. Air travel, comprising both business and leisure, is expected to give a fillip to the socioeconomic landscape by attracting fresh investment. It would also ramp up infrastructure and create jobs.

The Uttar Pradesh government is ramping up the inventory of an industrial land bank of an estimated 1,500 acres in the state ahead of the global investors' summit early next year. The state aims to garner private investments of Rs 10 trillion at the January 2023 event. The state government will showcase a proverbial 'ready to allot' menu of industrial land to woo domestic and global corporations.

The Uttar Pradesh government will tap the Indian embassies in the US and European countries in its bid to double merchandise shipments to Rs 3 trillion in the next 4-5 years. The Indian embassies in the US, UK, Germany, Australia, Israel, Singapore, etc. will promote the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) products, apart from traditional handicrafts and indigenous products, under the state's flagship One District One Product (ODOP) scheme. "Indian embassies will provide the much-needed traction and visibility to our traditional products in key export destinations across the globe," UP additional chief secretary (MSME and export promotion) Navneet Sehgal told Business Standard.

'BJP has risen to second spot, ahead of the BSP, as the political party of choice for Muslims in UP.' 'Only the BJP government has worked tirelessly to usher in the minorities to the mainstream of society'

Given the vital role played by cyberspace in new-age electioneering, the UP police have constituted a digital monitoring cell to curb objectionable and defamatory social media posts on the eve of the elections.

Multi-core loan default accused and promoter of Rotomac Group 73-year-old Vikram Kothari died in a freak accident at his Kanpur residence on Tuesday morning. According to reports, the erstwhile stationery czar sustained grievous head injuries after slipping in his bathroom and later succumbed to his injuries. He was reportedly alone at his Tilak Nagar residence at the time of the incident. Vikram, also known as 'India's Pen King', was accused in a bank loan scam worth thousands of crores pertaining to Rotomac Global, which exported writing instruments overseas.

While Yadav began to tour different constituencies and address public meetings to mobilise the SP rank and file, he has concurrently started the tedious process of cobbling up an alliance of smaller outfits representing a mlange of castes and sub-castes, reports Virendra Singh Rawat.

In the backdrop of the ongoing farm protests, back into public consciousness in the aftermath of the recent Lakhimpur Kheri episode, smaller parties are expected to not only enliven the election theatre, but also queer the pitch for the Opposition.

The Lakhimpur violence, in which the son of senior BJP leader and Union minister of state Ajay Mishra Teni are accused of trampling four protesting farmers to death, has opened another front for the CM to deal with, after the mysterious death of Akhara Parishad president Mahant Narendra Giri last month and the death of a Kanpur-based trader in Gorakhpur recently.