"The day news of the SP-BSP top leadership meeting came out, the BJP government used the CBI and raids were conducted in an old mining scam and the news of quizzing Akhilesh Yadav was deliberately spread. Is it not an action to defame the SP-BSP alliance?" Mayawati said.
The BJP has many ruthless leaders with super-sharp political minds. But none has all this and Yogi's charisma and personal ambition, observes Shekhar Gupta.
Besides the UPA and its four supporting parties -- SP, BSP, RJD, JD(S) -- NDA members JD-U and Shiv Sena as also the CPI-M and Forward Bloc have declared their support for Mukherjee.
Before leaving to tender his resignation to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Mukherjee said, " I stand ready to embark on a new journey".
'Balakot and Pulwama will definitely help the BJP, but it will still not help them to create a 2014 like situation or go beyond that.'
While the Apna Dal said it was 'free to make its own decision', the SBSP went a step ahead asserting that its option to join the SP-BSP alliance.
A new Congress leader may make an electoral impact by his very presence. Congress voters who had moved away from the party, after being influenced by the BJP's 'family rule' campaign, can now return with a certain moral satisfaction, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
"Our organisation in Uttar Pradesh will lend support to the alliance," he said.
Political parties were bracing for the assembly election results on Thursday in the crucial state of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and politically volatile Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur, sending out feelers for possible post-poll tie-ups.
"The over-confidence and inability to comprehend the electoral understanding between the SP and the BSP led to the defeat," Adityanath stressed.
The Samajwadi Party and the Rashtriya Janata Dal disrupted Question Hour in Rajya Sabha on Monday over implementation of Ranganath Misra Commission report on minority welfare, leading to adjournment of the House till noon.
'Congress leaders don't believe in themselves and in the potential of the party.' 'Unless they have faith in themselves, only then will the public have faith in them.'
The Bharatiya Janata Party leader, who travelled by road from Jharkhand to this West Bengal town to address a rally after being denied permission earlier for landing helicopter in the state, targeted the Trinamool Congress chief for opposing the Central Bureau of Investigation's attempt to quiz the Kolkata police chief in connection with the ponzi scams.
Ahead of the 2019 elections, the race for consolidating the Dalit vote-bank has intensified among all the political parties, more so in Uttar Pradesh, where the community comprises almost 21 per cent of the population.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath attributed the impressive show by his party to the "alert voters" who he said rejected the 'mahagathbandhan' (grand alliance) of opposition parties.
'Outside the core voter base of upper caste Hindus, there is a large section unhappy with the performance of the BJP.'
Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh and his party colleague Ram Gopal Yadav along with eight other new members of Parliament were administered oath by Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari on Wednesday.
Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath expressed confidence that the BJP will win over 74 out of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state.
He said the BJP is leaving a "culture", which may be used against it in the future.
Yogi will stay in Gorakhpur till May 19 and will address at least three rallies every day in the region, reports Siddharth Kalhans.
Gandhi met Pawar within hours of the BJP's defeat in the Gorakhpur and Phulpur Lok Sabha bypolls in Uttar Pradesh.
'If you compare Rahul with Modi, then Modi seems larger.' 'The campaign has been built to show that Rahul is not mature enough to lead the nation.'
The party also declared sitting MP Praveen Nishad as its candidate from Sant Kabir Nagar
The outcome in UP is far more significant than in the other states going to the polls next year. An unlikely setback in UP can cramp the Modi government, virtually making it a lame-duck two years ahead of the 2024 parliamentary poll, observes Virendra Kapoor.
Any defeat for the BJP now would imply that anti-incumbency against Modi has set in, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
CM Yogi Adityanath said the BJP was getting widespread support from the people.
She said neither the Congress nor the BJP works in the interests of the upper castes' poor and the remaining majority.
'After meeting the prime minister and Amit Shah, Yogi has come out with his position secure till the assembly election.'
The AAP chief also said that Congress president Rahul Gandhi would be to blame if Narendra Modi came back to power.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav lashed out at his one-time ally, the Congress, and said that in the state the BJP is nowhere.
The CM added the BJP has learnt its "lessons" and exuded confidence it will perform better in future polls.
The BSP chief said she does not want to see any damage to the SP-BSP-RLD alliance.
The BJP has begun identifying officers who can 'rid' the administration of SP-BSP 'hangover'.
Exit polls by News 18-Ipsos, India Today-Axis and News 24-Chanakya had projected 336, 339-368 and 336-364 seats respectively for the NDA.
If the BJP wins by getting Hindu voters to consolidate, its opponents can't beat it by bundling together the Muslims and some of the 'others', observes Shekhar Gupta.
Adityanath said he has changed the "perception about the state" and improved its "tarnished image".
Over two dozen Muslims have been elected to the Lok Sabha. This shows that all is not lost for India's Muslims, suggests Mohammad Sajjad.
The kisan is as integral a part of the BJP's master plan for the 2019 polls as the Dalit because it surmised that the farmers and Dalits were as restive in UP as in much of the country, and if it had to cut its losses, its reflexes must kick in fast. Radhika Ramaseshan reports.
The BSP chief alleged that Modi and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party considered the Dalits as lowly.
The Samajwadi Party released its list of 40 star campaigners in which there was no mention of Mulayam Singh Yadav.
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