With 13 more deaths, the toll in the hooch tragedy in several villages of Mubarakpur area of Azamgarh district in Uttar Pradesh on Saturday climbed to 35 even as Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav took serious note of the incident and suspended five excise department officials.
Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com gives the lowdown on the constituencies going to polls in the first phase on April 11.
The carving work by artisans had been carried out uninterrupted since 1990 when Mulayam Singh Yadav of the Samajwadi Party was Uttar Pradesh chief minister.
Here's a recap of events that occurred in India in the past 24 hours.
Scolding the official, the senior SP leader said that if had fallen on the muddy path, it would have created a scene.
The UP chief minister also attacked the Congress, saying the party furthered the interests of a family, promoted casteism, regionalism and kept the country in limbo for 50 years.
'In an alliance, you are forced to overlook loyal workers.' 'It sends a negative message and workers turn against the party.' 'I have forbidden this alliance.'
The bypolls are termed as a 'rehearsal' for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls by CM Yogi Adityanath.
Paramilitary force personnel and state police force will be deployed and drone cameras will be used to ensure security on Friday.
Claiming that the SP supremo had threatened him with dire consequences, Amitabh Thakur sought protection from the Centre.
Amidst controversies, the National Sports Awards were presented by President Pranab Mukherjee at the Rashtrapati Bhawan on Friday.
The girl tried to immolate herself near the chief minister's residence in Lucknow on Sunday.
The SP candidates in these seats include Mulayam Singh Yadav's daughter-in-law Aparna Yadav and three ministers, one of whom was recently sacked.
The BSP supremo is looking forward to the support of Dalits and Muslims to seize the throne in Lucknow, writes Amit Shankar.
Her speech was laced with Hindi, Urdu, Sanskrit and even Tamil verses.
Could a grand alliance between the Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and Congress -- built along the lines of the successful Bihar mahagatbandhan of 2015 -- have changed the outcome of the Uttar Pradesh election?
Singling out the Congress as the only opponent to the GST, the government hopes to pass the bill after the altered numbers in the Upper House, reports Archis Mohan.
'My aim is that the message from our ancient texts reach the younger generation of Indians.' 'The trouble is that our literature is in Sanskrit and scientists don't know the language. And the people who know Sanskrit they don't know science.'
Indian shuttlers bagged the Asian Youth badminton championship titles in both Under-15 and Under-17 categories to wrap up the tournament with two gold and two bronze, their best ever performance at the competition, in Kudus, Indonesia, on Sunday.
Stunning moments from across India as it celebrates its 69th Independence Day
'How can the BJP give Muslim candidates tickets if they don't have any good Muslim candidates?'
Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde on Wednesday warned that the country may witness more communal violence ahead of the 2014 general election as he indicated that some political parties could be behind the riots in Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh.
Mayawati was outmanoeuvred by the BJP in the race for the Rajya Sabha in Uttar Pradesh just days after she helped the Samajwadi Party snatch two Lok Sbaha seats from the saffron party in bypolls.
Following open criticism from top players like Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa, who declared the Indian Badminton League's decision to slash their auction base price as "disrespectful" and "absurd", the Badminton Association of India and the league's organisers have now barred players from talking to the media.
The BJP president came down heavily on the Opposition saying a shocking change has happened in the country's politics with those against the prime minister resorting to lies and speaking it loudly all the time.
The chief minister assured the family of all the possible help and also met the two daughters and consoled the family promising strict action against the guilty.
'The opposition party was disappointed that the UN listing does not mention the Pulwama terror attack, in which 40 CRPF personnel lost their lives, and has no reference to Jammu and Kashmir'
'That the commandments to officialdom were issued by a BJP functionary and not a minister is a reflection of the Yogi government's work style.'
The refusal by the hospital on Sunday forced the 25-year-old woman to undertake a 50-kilometre journey to Bareilly. Precious time was lost and it was too late as my wife delivered a stillborn at the Bareilly district hospital, her husband alleged.
The fate of 961 candidates, including Union ministers Giriraj Singh, Subhash Bhamre, S S Ahluwalia and Babul Supriyo of the BJP and former Union ministers Salman Khurshid and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury of the Congress, will be decided by about 12.79 core voters in the fourth phase.
Janata Dal-United chief Sharad Yadav on Wednesday shared the dais with Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav on the inaugural day of SP's national convention in Lucknow, fuelling speculation about their joining hands.
On the eve of the final phase of the Uttar Pradesh elections, Rediff.com's Aslam Hunani reviews the political landscape in the epicentre and beyond.
Satyamev Jayate 3 may have gotten off to a better start than its predecessors but can Aamir Khan dial it down a couple of notches further, asks Nishi Tiwari.
On May 2, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will step into Bihar and challenge the Nitish-Lalu order in the state.
The UP CM failed to launch any major infrastructure project of its own, including the proposed Purvanchal Expressway, and also rid the roads of potholes by June 2017.
Modi and Shah can't afford to lose any of the 24 per cent Dalit vote of 2014, says Shekhar Gupta.
The Rajya Sabha MP, who lost out to Bachchan in the race for re-nomination to the upper house and on Monday quit the Samajwadi Party to join the BJP, had said at a press conference that the SP denied him the RS ticket and gave it to somebody who used to dance and act in films.
The saffron party is assured of victory in eight of the ten seats in UP going by its dominant numbers in the state assembly.
Gloom and pall have descended on mutton and other meat vendors as the strike in UP has forced people to turn vegetarian.
Listing out key initiatives, Adityanath said his government would launch a systematic drive to help retrieve 1,000 hectares of land in the grip of land mafia for years.
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