The expensive giant statues of Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati and party symbol elephant in Uttar Pradesh will remain safe with Samajwadi's star campaigner Akhilesh Yadav saying on Tuesday they will not be pulled down after the change of guard in the state.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said his party would oppose the Centre's move to bring a bill in Parliament to amend the 1995 law governing Waqf boards, and accused the BJP of trying to snatch the rights of Muslims.
Expelled Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh said on Saturday that party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav's claims of being anti-English education were just a facade meant to gain political mileage.
A meeting of Opposition parties, organised by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, will be held in Patna on June 23, his deputy Tejashwi Yadav said on Wednesday.
"There is no matbhed (difference) or manbhed (ill feelings) among our leaders," Yadav said.
Finally waking up to the unabated indiscipline in his party rank and file leading to spate of violent incidents, Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav on Tuesday issued a terse warning to the newly-appointed members of his son Akhilesh Yadav's ministry, telling them to behave.
Mulayam announced that sacked minister Gayatri Prajapati will be taken back in the UP cabinet.
The BJP attacked Kejriwal after he refused to comment on the Maliwal "assault" matter during a press conference in Lucknow. He was flanked by Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav and AAP Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh.
His father and Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav did not hesitate to appoint the most tainted bureaucrats at chief secretaries of the state during his last stint as chief minister of India's most populous state.
Campaigning ended on Wednesday evening for 102 Lok Sabha seats across 21 states and Union territories which will go to polls in the first phase on April 19 with top leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance and the opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) making a last-gasp effort to woo voters.
For the second time in four days, Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav today expressed unhappiness over functioning of the government led by his son Akhilesh, and asked those in responsible positions to focus on "public interest" rather than "self interest".
Two groups -- one for a separate state of Telangana and the other for a united Andhra Pradesh -- are holding meetings in New Delhi and Lucknow to urge the government to rule in its favour. Vicky Nanjappa reports
In a major development in the ongoing Samajwadi Party feud, Mulayam Singh Yadav has postponed the national convention of party called by him on January 5.
A defiant Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav said, "We are going for polls... Will return again."
The party was trounced in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh and is now left with only Himachal Pradesh in the north. It is ruling in only three states on its own and is in power in Bihar and Jharkhand as a junior partner in alliance with regional parties.
Pictures from the Saifai Mahotsav 2016.
"Owaisi is an old friend of mine. As far as I know, he was 'Kshatriya' (Hindu) earlier. He is a descendent of Lord Ram, not the one belonging to Iran," said Singh.
"Changes should be visible in six months and the manifesto should be implemented within a year as there is no guarantee when Lok Sabha elections are announced after that," Mulayam said, addressing party leaders and workers at a function to mark the 102nd anniversary of Dr Ram Manohar Lohia in Lucknow.
'Although Rahul's energy and commitment are to be acknowledged, there is no alternative to good party organisation at the grassroots, and this the Congress lacks. If they set their organisational house in order, combined with an enlightened leadership, the Congress will go far in many states.'
Urdu journalist cum politician Shahid Siddiqui, who made waves recently when he was sacked by the Samajwadi Party for interviewing Gujarat CM Narendra Modi for his paper, spoke to Neerja Chowdhury on Uttar Pradesh, the goings on in the SP and the government led by it, of which he has had more than a ringside view.
In line with his plan for a complete makeover of the Samajwadi Party, Akhilesh Yadav, the party general secretary and son of chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, on Tuesday expelled a functionary for indulging in vandalism and showing black flags to Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi in Aligarh earlier in the day.
Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav is caught in an escalating spat between Delhi's Jama Masjid Shahi Imam Syed Ahmed Bukhari and Uttar Pradesh Minorities Minister Mohammad Azam Khan, both baying for each other.
Mulyama's remarks came against the backdrop of marathon meetings Congress' poll strategist Prashant Kishor had with him in Delhi and Lucknow.
The Lucknow bench of Allahabad high court on Monday granted reprieve to arrested Vishwa Hindu Parishad leaders as the ruling Samajwadi Party prosecutors chose to soft peddle on them.
"We are confident of getting an absolute majority. If that situation (hung assembly) arises then everything depends on election results," Akhilesh Yadav, President of Uttar Pradesh Samajwadi Party, told PTI.
While conditions have improved over the last decade in western UP, there are still unfulfilled needs.
Samajwadi Party government exempts Dedh Ishqiya from tax ; Mulayam and Akhilesh camp in Saifai to welcome Madhuri-Salman
The bill to amend the law governing Waqf boards proposes far-reaching changes in the Wakf Act, 1995, including ensuring the representation of Muslim women and non-Muslims in such bodies.
No-show against Sonia has payback in Delhi, SP tells followers.
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Under fire over the handling of the communal flare-up in Muzaffarnagar, Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh on Tuesday defended the Akhilesh Yadav government, saying it took stern measures and the situation was brought under control in two days.
The youth -- their dreams of government jobs unfulfilled -- are voicing their frustration.
The SP's bid to dent the BJP's formidable social equation is playing out in a big way in the Poorvanchal or eastern region of Uttar Pradesh as the ruling party is working overtime to keep its caste equation unharmed.
Accusing the previous governments of not making efforts to change the 'narrow' mindset towards sports, Modi said the sports world was marred by maladies like games of nepotism, casteism, corruption and discrimination earlier at every level right from the training to team selection.
Election rallies have been on for weeks, but nothing captures the immediacy of an election like the sight of candidates filing their nomination papers.
It is, now, more or less certain that in the ongoing election the SP is emerging as the main challenger to Mayawati's power in Lucknow. The combination of an experienced Mulayam Singh Yadav and his young, untested son Akhilesh Yadav is working, reports Sheela Bhatt from Lucknow
'There is some deep rot that has set in the Congress party. This requires an organisational surgery.'
The lively lot of politicians at the helm of India's most important political province.
Sufficient evidence to support the allegations could not be brought out.
Banda chief judicial magistrate Bhagwan Das Gupta appointed Garima Singh, additional chief judicial magistrate (MP-MLA Court Banda) as the investigating officer in the case, the official said.
Throwing a fresh challenge to Akhilesh Yadav, his sidelined uncle Shivpal on Tuesday announced that he will float a party after election results are out on March 11 and threatened to back "rebel" candidates.
