'His biggest contribution as defence minister was to change the rules of bringing martyred soldiers' bodies home.'
A day after high drama at a key meeting of the ruling Samajwadi Party, its state unit chief Shivpal Yadav on Tuesday said all was well in the party as he visited Mulayam Singh Yadav's residence and was joined in later by Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav.
Yadav fought hard, but his party was well behind the BJP.
Dissident Bharatiya Janata Party leader Kalyan Singh on Sunday met Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav amid growing apprehensions that the BJP's 'mandir-mandal' face may change sides in the run up to the Lok Sabha polls. Sources in BJP said that the meeting could have been triggered due to Kalyan's presumption of disciplinary action against him.
Yadav alleged that the intelligence bureau was being used for the purpose.
Shivpal Yadav on Friday held talks with defiant nephew Akhilesh at his residence on a "compromise formula" for a possible patch-up.
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.
Expelled leader Amar Singh has said he was associated with the Samajwadi Party for 14 long years and if he would open his mouth, SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav would land in jail.
Former Jharkhand Chief Minister Shibu Soren, a towering figure in the state's tribal movement, was cremated with full state honors in his native village of Nemra. Thousands gathered to pay their respects to the 'Dishom Guru,' including political leaders and villagers.
In an interview to CNN-IBN, the SP chief denied that Amar Singh was gaining out of party and also reaffirmed his charge that a Mumbai-based business tycoon was conniving to kill him.
In what may be seen as a message to the electorate that he has a say in the party, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Monday inducted three Cabinet and two Ministers of State (Independent Charge) ahead of next year's assembly elections in the state.
With several political stalwarts of Uttar Pradesh no longer on the scene, it will be keenly watched how their children lead at the hustings this time without their formidable presence.
While the 16 Congress legislators in the state favoured joining the Mulayam Singh government, a section of the central leadership strongly opposed any such move.
'I am not targeting an individual. I am targeting a culture -- the culture of brokers in the Indian polity,' says Raj Babbar, who has just been thrown out of the Samajwadi Party.
Samajwadi Party leaders Mulayam Singh Yadav and Amar Singh on Friday made it clear that they favoured the Indo-US nuclear deal as they met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi over the issue.
Calling the expulsion of Amar Singh as wrong which would hurt the party, actor turned politician Jaya Bachchan on Tuesday said that she would quit the Samajwadi Party and Rajya Sabha if asked by it's president Mulayam Singh Yadav.
Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh has blamed the party's loss in the Firozabad Lok Sabha bypoll on the overconfidence of its chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and said Yadav "behaved symbolically like Mayawati" while campaigning in the constituency.
'If Muslims who are 20 percent of UP's population feel the SP has no future they will go with the BSP. Even if 10 percent Muslim vote goes to the BSP every equation will change.'
Pandey, a minister in Akhilesh Yadav's cabinet, was expelled by SP state unit chief Shivpal Yadav over the allegation that he attacked party MLC Ashu Malik.
Sources said investigators are filing a closure report soon following probe into a complaint filed by Bhushan that the CD was fabricated. A case under section 469 of Indian Penal Code (forgery for the purpose of harming reputation) was registered in mid-April.
When the country has been at war, the Opposition has buried its differences with the government, points out Aditi Phadnis.
The rebels have formed a separate outfit, the Loktantrik BSP, and sought its merger with the Samajwadi Party.
The Central Information Commission has directed the Delhi Police and Central Forensic Science Laboratory, Chandigarh to make public forensic reports in the alleged doctored CD case carrying conversation among lawyers Shanti Bhushan and Prashant Bhushan, Amar Singh and Mulayam Singh Yadav.
Mulayam, Akhilesh shout at each other as SP supremo defends Shivpal, Amar Singh.
Every day when Akhilesh returns after a joust with political adversaries to his Camelot, which is Lucknow's 5, Kalidas Marg, it is time to hold court with advisors and loyalists.
Why did former solicitor general of India Goolam Vahanvati bail out Mulayam Singh Yadav at a time when the Congress and Samajwadi Party didn't see eye-to-eye? What was Amar Singh's interest in saving the UPA government? These are some of the question posed by legal activist Vishwanath Chaturvedi in his criminal complaint against the Delhi Police's chargesheet in the cash-for-votes scam. Sheela Bhatt reports
Why did former solicitor general of India Goolam Vahanvati bail out Mulayam Singh Yadav at a time when the Congress and Samajwadi Party didn't see eye-to-eye? What was Amar Singh's interest in saving the UPA government? These are some of the question posed by legal activist Vishwanath Chaturvedi in his criminal complaint against the Delhi Police's chargesheet in the cash-for-votes scam. Sheela Bhatt reports
Prashant Bhushan, a member of the Lokpal Bill joint drafting committee, on Sunday said the CD carrying purported telephone conversation between his father Shanti Bhushan, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and Amar Singh was "doctored".
Rajbir Singh, the son of former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Kalyan Singh, joined the Samajwadi Party on Wednesday. His decision comes just a day after his father quit the Bharatya Janata Party, giving a jolt to the saffron party ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
Babbar, who had of late launched a vitriolic attack against party General Secretary Amar Singh, was suspended from the parliamentary party on Tuesday.
Mulayam sparks controversy; says government is tapping Amar Singh's phone. Government hits back with grit.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Thursday attacked Congress saying 62 big scams involving around Rs 20 lakh crore have taken place during the UPA regime at the Centre.
Senior Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh on Monday slammed the Congress for fielding Raj Babbar against Mulayam Singh Yadav's daughter-in-law in the Ferozabad Lok Sabha bypolls, but said he had nothing against Rahul Gandhi for campaigning for the party's candidate in the constituency.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday attended the pre-wedding ceremony of Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav's grandnephew with Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Yadav's daughter, an event which saw the most powerful political families of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar coming together.
However, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, hosting a meeting of the leaders of the Third Front in Chennai on Sunday, said the Front would 'choose a nominee' for the presidential election.
Lawyer Shanti Bhushan on Tuesday alleged some minister or a "very powerful" Congress leader could be behind the circulation of the CD containing purported conversations between him and political leaders Mulayam Singh Yadav and Amar Singh.
Social activist Anna Hazare on Sunday virtually dismissed allegations against Shanti Bhushan, the co-chair of the Lokpal Bill joint drafting committee, in a CD controversy and backed his presence on the panel.
The booing and beating Maharashtra Navnirman Sena Legislators in Mumbai has brought rich dividends for Samajwadi Party's Maharashtra chief Abu Azmi , who has been turned into the party's hero.
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