Samajwadi Party MP R K Chaudhary's demand to replace the Sengol installed next to the Lok Sabha Speaker's chair with a copy of the Constitution triggered a war of words on Thursday, with opposition leaders backing him, and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party castigating him for 'disrespecting' Indian and Tamil culture.
With the Bharatiya Janata Party leaving its rivals comfortably behind in states like Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand in the initial rounds of vote counting, its leaders credited Prime Minister Narendra Modi's governance model for the expected win and said "new history" is being created in UP.
Eighteen people were killed and 19 injured when a double-decker sleeper bus headed for Delhi hit a milk tanker on the Agra-Lucknow Expressway in Unnao on Wednesday, officials said.
The Hindutva poster boy has lost his sheen following the BJP's poll reverses in Hindi heartland states and his style of governance, reports Virendra Singh Rawat.
'There was a strong undercurrent of deprivation, and also frustration against misuse of power and authority.' 'This election was an opportunity for the manifestation of this discontentment.'
This appears to be a common refrain in Uttar Pradesh's Lakhimpur Kheri Lok Sabha constituency where farmers want better prices for their produce and respite from the stray cattle menace and others want political leaders to talk about job creation instead of issues like the Ram temple and Article 370.
The 58-year-old leader was administered the oath of office by Governor Mangubhai Patel.
It also includes Maharashtra deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, BJP leader Manoj Tiwari and MP home minister Narottam Mishra.
'Akhilesh Yadav made voters think why is the BJP asking for 400 paar.' 'They understood his words and believed the BJP wanted 400 paar only to demolish the Constitution and end reservations.'
Independence Day was celebrated across states and Union territories on Thursday, as several chief ministers announced job schemes while some others vowed their support for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of a Viksit Bharat by 2047.
'There is a huge constituency that upholds this ideology.' 'Hindutva will remain relevant in our public life in the near future as an ideology and in politics as well.'
The electoral battle in Varanasi, according to locals and political experts, is not about whether the PM will win for a third successive occasion, but if he will increase his share of the votes polled and his win margin.
Has Ajay Mohan Bisht, the ruler of UP, fallen out of favour with Narendra Damodardas Modi, the emperor of India?
'Sharma was sent to Lucknow for a purpose, but he has merely been adjusted in the party hierarchy because the chief minister refused to induct him into his government. He was secretary in the Central government and was holding a much higher office than the state ruling party's vice-president' Virendra Singh Rawat reports.
"The over-confidence and inability to comprehend the electoral understanding between the SP and the BSP led to the defeat," Adityanath stressed.
The Congress on Friday said it will take a decision at an 'appropriate time' whether its senior leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Sonia Gandhi will attend the consecration of the Ram temple in Ayodhya on January 22.
For months, there has been talk that Narendra Damodardas Modi and Ajay Mohan Bisht, aka Yogi Adityanath, don't get along.
Adityanath also asked the the staff to make the atmosphere in the building healthy and clean by avoiding the use plastic.
Besides the national capital, polling for the sixth round of the marathon seven-phase elections will be held Saturday in 14 seats in Uttar Pradesh, all 10 seats of Haryana, eight seats each in Bihar and West Bengal, six seats in Odisha, four seats in Jharkhand and one seat in Jammu and Kashmir.
According to insiders, their lack of enthusiasm is showing on the ground. There is nothing to suggest that their enthusiasm will return in the final four phases of polling, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Sachin Tendulkar performs Jal Abhishek at the Kashi Vishwanath temple.
A day after his expulsion from the Congress, Acharya Pramod Krishnam on Sunday said leaders like Sachin Pilot and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra are being disrespected in the party where people need 'chamchagiri' (sycophancy) to survive.
Akhilesh Yadav replaced his nephew Tej Pratap Yadav and decided to contest the Kannauj seat himself.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has announced financial assistance of Rs 2 lakh to the kin of each of the deceased and Rs 50,000 to the injured.
A video showing the incident involving school teacher, Tripta Tyagi, and the Class 2 boy in Muzaffarnagar has gone viral on social media eliciting strong words from several political parties.
The stampede took place as people headed home after a satsang in the district's Phulrai village, conducted by a preacher known as Bhole Baba. Twenty-seven bodies were brought to a hospital in neighbouring Etah district. Senior Superintendent of Police Rajesh Kumar Singh said 23 of them were women. And 89 lay dead in Hathras itself.
Political leaders and candidates should not use children for campaign activities in any manner including holding a child in their arms, carrying a child in a vehicle or in rallies, the poll watchdog said.
Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak said on Tuesday night that all the eight candidates of the Bharatiya Janata Party have won in the Rajya Sabha elections from the state.
Campaigning for May 13 elections in 96 Lok Sabha constituencies across 10 states and Union territories including all seats in Andhra Pradesh, where assembly elections are also being held concurrently, and Telangana concluded on Saturday evening.
Some have been cherry-picked to assert the BJP's supremacy over its allies or, significantly, its leaders who charted an independent course in the recent past.
'They were very vocal on the defence of the Constitution, reservation, SC/ST Act and democratic rights.'
A video of the qawwal (qawwali singer), identified as Nawaz Sharif, briefly speaking about India, Modi, Shah and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath during a performance at Mangawa town in Rewa district on March 28 has gone viral on social media.
The maiden voyage has 32 tourists from Switzerland signing up for the entire length of the journey.
Modi, Yogi watch Hemaji play Mirabai...
With the latest additions, Yadav now follows 12 Twitter handles, which include the Dalai Lama, the President of India, the Prime Minister's Office and the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister's Office.
The meeting, which began around 10:30 pm on Thursday, lasted for more than four hours and was held at the party's headquarters in New Delhi.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the new Parliament building Sunday morning and installed the scared 'Sengol' in the Lok Sabha chamber, right next to the Speaker's chair, after performing a puja.
A beam of sunlight fell directly on Ram Lalla's idol at the new temple in Ayodhya on noon Wednesday, marking the 'Surya Tilak' of the idol on the first Ram Navami since its consecration.
'There is a famous saying here that 'the way to Delhi passes through Lucknow'.' 'If the BJP loses UP in 2022, Modi's premiership in 2024 will be in doldrums.'
The BJP leader said the Congress wants to divide the country on the basis of religion and region.
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