The party, banking on the legacy of former PM Chaudhary Charan Singh, had no MP and its lone MLA had switched to the BJP.
'Farmers' issues will rule the narrative in the 2019 elections.'
Tens of thousands of farmers gathered in Muzaffarnagar town on Friday to attend a mahapanchayat in support of the Bharatiya Kisan Union-led protest against the Centre's new farm laws in Ghazipur on the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border.
UP bypolls: SP-RLD combine wins all 4 bypoll seats.
Singh, a veteran Congress leader, was a member of the Upper House of Parliament from Assam for almost three decades.
Campaigning came to an end on Saturday for the single-day election in Uttarakhand and Goa, two states known for political volatility where the Bharatiya Janata Party is attempting to retain power, and for the second phase of assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh on February 14.
Congress on Tuesday said it planned to go it alone in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls and would consider tie-ups only on its "own conditions and interests", a development that could queer the pitch for parties like Ajit Singh-led Rashtriya Lok Dal.
The RLD has aligned with the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party in UP and is attacking the state government on farm distress and the outstanding sugarcane dues.
Whether he succeeds in becoming chief minister again or not, Akhilesh is finally out of the shadow cast by his family, but without losing a sense of balance.
Governor Vishnukant Shastri accepted their resignation on the recommendation of Mayawati.
The 14-member party has withdrawn support to the coalition government, which has been surviving on a simple majority.
They joined their nine colleagues, already in Srinagar, to foil any bid by the BSP-BJP coalition to break their party.\n\n
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 meeting came a day after Rashtriya Lok Dal president Ajit Singh met the Congress chief for a tie-up in Uttar Pradesh.
Opposition parties feel the need for a vote of confidence in the wake of Ajit Singh-led Rashtriya Loktantrik Dal's decision to withdraw its ministers.
Without ruling out the possibility of working with the Congress after polls, Akhilesh said he has good relations with the party and would be 'happy' if the next prime minister was from his home state.
Western UP contributes nearly 70 seats to the 402-member UP assembly. In 2017, the BJP had swept the region. Every pre-2022 poll survey had suggested the party would face its biggest attrition from this region because of the farmers' groups.
Referring to Modi, Adityanath and Union Home Minister Amit Shah as 'outsiders', the farmer leader said he has no objection if they become prime ministers after winning polls from Uttarakhand or Gujarat.
Mayawati said that the BSP and the SP would not ally with the Congress party in the upcoming elections.
Priyanka said the party's fight will continue till the laws are scrapped.
Five ministerial berths, including two of Cabinet rank, have fallen vacant after the Ajit Singh-led RLD withdrew support to the Mayawati-led BJP-BSP coalition in Lucknow.
Some parties, including the Congress, also demanded immediate sacking of Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Kumar Mishra, following Samyukt Kisan Morcha's allegation that his son was travelling in one of the vehicles involved in the incident.
A meeting of opposition leaders from many anti-Bharatiya Janata Party parties, most of them regional forces, hosted by the veteran leader and Nationalist Congress Party president Sharad Pawar on Tuesday is being seen by political pundits as a beginning of an exercise by them to join forces to put up a more cohesive challenge to the saffron party.
The Samajwadi Party, the Rashtriya Lok Dal and some smaller parties will contest the 2022 Uttar Pradesh assembly polls together, and an announcement in this regard would be made soon, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav said on Tuesday.
The parties also said that the decision has come in late and had the Modi government shed its 'arrogance earlier' and repealed the laws opposed by farmers, a number of precious lives lost during the nearly year-long agitation could have been saved.
BSP legislators were earlier supporting the Ashok Gehlot government from outside and were in constant touch with the chief minister.
The Jat vote is crucial in winning at least 40 assembly seats in Western UP, which has been in the grip of a widespread farmer movement, reports Nitin Kumar.
The TMC, fresh from its resounding victory in West Bengal, is renewing efforts to mark its presence in the country's most populous state as well as politically crucial elections before the Lok Sabha battle in 2024, reports Virendra Singh Rawat.
'People are questioning these highways and expressways in UP because ultimately, they want to get bread and butter first.'
'Every family in UP has been deeply affected in this second wave.' 'It has only been denial, denial, and denial by the incumbent CM.'
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A day after Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Ajit Singh was detained for trying to enter Uttar Pradesh, his son Jayant Chaudhary managed to give police a slip and bypassed the tight security arrangements at the state border in Meerut.
Chaudhary, who took 13 hours to reach Lakhimpur Kheri from Delhi, several hours more than it would take to cover the 420 km-odd distance, also met the families of some of the farmer victims to learn their story of loss.
The 19 MLAs were sent notices Tuesday by the Speaker after the Congress complained that they had defied a party whip to attend two Congress Legislature Party meetings.
He said he will not join any party but will work to unite all non-BJP parties.
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