While giving a call to oust the Bahujan Samaj Party government from Uttar Pradesh, Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi on Thursday urged the people to bring the Congress to power in order to see a transformed state.
Its passage, argues Sharat Pradhan, will only give rise to more bitterness and sharper social conflict, overcoming which might be easier said than done.
Unruly scenes were witnessed in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday after the opposition members raised the issue of alleged phone tapping of senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Arun Jaitley, leading to a brief adjournment of the House.
On being asked if she would choose to withdraw her party's support to the Congress-led Union government, Mayawati said, "I have convened a huge rally of the party in Lucknow on October 9, which will be followed by a meeting of our party national executive on the following day. There we will take a final call on the question of continuing our support to the UPA government."
Pained by Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati's critical remarks against him, Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari on Wednesday said it would be difficult for him to work in such circumstances.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday said Mayawati government was more sympathetic towards "rich builders" than poor farmers and charged Bharatiya Janata Party, Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party with only serving their respective "vote banks" when in power in Uttar Pradesh and ignoring the common man.
The Lokayukta has found Siddiqui, who is also Bahujan Samaj Party's general secretary and leader of the opposition in the state legislative council (Vidhan Parishad), prima facie guilty of amassing assets far disproportionate to his known and legitimate sources of income.
The BJP and its allies won all assembly seats in Modi's Varanasi and Adityanath's Gorakhpur, and the SP bagged all 10 segments in Yadav's Azamgarh Lok Sabha constituency.
Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati on Sunday voiced her prime ministerial ambitions by asking party workers to ensure a "big victory" for it in the next Lok Sabha elections so that she can deliver the Independence Day speech from the Red Fort.
A total of 253 members -- out of the 471 present and voting -- voted against the motion against FDI moved by Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj, implying they were in favour of the foreign direct investment in multi-brand retail.
UP Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya said the BJP parliamentary board and its national leadership will decide under whom the upcoming state assembly elections will be fought.
Can you imagine that in the upcoming Uttar Pradesh assembly election Bharitya Janta Party can get almost 24 per cent votes to come second in the four-cornered contest between ruling Bahujan Samaj Party, Samajwadi Party, Congress and BJP?
The Uttar Pradesh assembly was paralysed on the opening day of the winter session on Monday, when Bahujan Samaj Party members trained its guns on the Samajwadi Party government headed by Akhilesh Yadav.
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Arun Jaitley is expected to table the report of Rajya Sabha's Select Committee on Lokpal in the Upper House on Friday, the second day of the winter session of Parliament. The committee is headed by Congress leader Satyavrat Chaturvedi and such reports are usually tabled by the chairmen of the committees. The government is expected to consider the recommendations made by the Select Committee.
Launching its campaign in five poll-bound states, Team Anna on Saturday sought to be even-handed by targeting the Centre, Bharatiya Janata Party, Bahujan Samaj Party for bringing a "toothless" Lokpal Bill which is like a "dead body strewn with flowers".
Uttar Pradesh, unlike almost any other Indian state, is ruled and run on caste. There are more than 60 castes in the state and all compete with each other for political patronage and benefits. In some ways, caste is a bigger player in the state than either religion or national issues, says Faisal Kidwai.
In a sharp retort to the Congress party's tirade against the flaunting of a currency note garland by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati at a recent Bahujan Samaj Party rally in Lucknow, state Public Works Department minister Naseemuddin Siddiqui on Thursday fished out a photograph of Congress president Sonia Gandhi wearing a currency note garland.
Bracing for an opposition onslaught in Parliament, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will host a dinner for United Progressive Alliance leaders on Friday to firm up a joint strategy on various issues like Foreign Direct Investment that are expected to come up during the session beginning next week.
Expelled Bahujan Samaj Party minister Babu Singh Kushwaha, currently facing a Central Bureau of Investigation probe for his alleged involvement in the Rs 8000 crore National Rural Health Mission scam, finally came out in the open against his one-time mentor Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Thursday.
"The two parties always had a tacit understanding in Uttar Pradesh," Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh told media persons when asked his views on the BJP and BSP describing party general secretary Rahul Gandhi's 'padayatra' in UP as a political drama.
In view of inclement weather in Uttarkhand, Bharatiya Janata Party has requested the Election Commission to postpone the polling date in the hill state from January 30 to February 10 as movement of people, vehicles and material was restricted due to heavy snowfall.
Taking on the Bharatiya Janata Party over the induction of tainted former Bahujan Samaj Party minister Babu Singh Kushwaha, Rahul Gandhi on Saturday claimed that he wanted to join the Congress after being sacked by Chief Minister Mayawati, but the party closed the doors on him. Addressing election meetings in Gorapkhpur, the All India Congress Committee general secretary also said the BJP has inducted a person who is part of the "corruption race" in the state.
"Joining of Kushwaha against whom there are serious allegations of corruption, which are being probed by CBI in BJP raises suspicion. It seems that there was a financial deal of crores for his inclusion in the BJP...this should be probed by CBI", Singh told reporters.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday sought to re-unite the opposition by apologising on behalf of the seven Members of Parliament suspended for unruly behaviour and demanding that the government express regret for using marshals during the passage of the Women's Reservation Bill. Opposition parties and those supporting the United Progressive Alliance government from outside like Rashtriya Janata Dal, Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party were united against it.
State BJP president Surya Pratap Shahi has alleged that the raids on Babu Singh Kushwaha were guided by the central government.
In a series of tweets, she attacked the SP accusing it of being an expert in "narrow politics".
The Constitution (116th Amendment) Bill was defeated in the Lok Sabha by a determined Opposition, helped by the absence of parties supporting the government from outside like the Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and the Rashtriya Janata Dal
Under attack over violence in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Thursday launched a scathing attack on Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party on the issue of land acquisition.
The Congress on Friday saw a tacit understanding between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party in the induction of tainted former Uttar Pradesh minister Babu Singh Kushwaha in the saffron party saying the two parties were birds of the same feather who flock together.
The Bahujan Samaj Party on Monday expelled former Family Welfare Minister Babu Singh Kushwaha, once a close confidant of Mayawati who was removed from her cabinet in the wake of the killing of two chief medical officers and the National Rural Health Mission scam.
Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi, who was already seen as a potential threat to Mayawati's "dalit vote bank" is all set to have a showdown with the ruling Bahujan Samaj Party on April 14 , the birth anniversary of the party's key Dalit icon Babasaheb Ambedkar in Ambedkarnagar
With exit polls predicting a hung assembly in Uttar Pradesh, Beni Prasad Verma, Union Minister and senior Congress leader from the state, on Sunday caused a flutter in the party by favouring a tie-up with Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party, a comment from which the party quickly distanced itself.
In an interview with CNN-IBN Editor-in-Chief Rajdeep Sardesai, the West Bengal Chief Minister questioned the stability of the Centre saying Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati may bail out the government for now, but people won't bail them out in future.
Parliament was on Wednesday adjourned till noon after ruckus over demand by Bahujan Samaj Party for dismissal of Karnataka government following allegations of illegal mining in the state and Rashtriya Janata Dal claims of a deal between the government and main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party in Sohrabuddin fake encounter case.
Ahead of the Monsoon session, Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mawayati on Thursday directed her party members of Parliament and legislative assembly to do their "full homework" on issues of land acquisition, corruption and price rise which are expected to dominate Parliament and assembly proceedings.
The two parties named the seats distributed among them in a statement signed by SP president Akhilesh Yadav and BSP chief Mayawati.
Bahujan Samaj Party MLA Krishna Kumar Singh, who had joined the Samajwadi Party, was on Monday disqualified from the Uttar Pradesh assembly by the Speaker, the fourth party MLA to face action under the anti-defection law.
Congress leaders, on their part, are confident that the mobilisation of voters away from the BJP will gain more momentum in the state elections, scheduled for October 1, in the absence of national issues and the 'Modi factor'.
Ruling Bahujan Samaj Party leadership on Wednesday expressed pride in setting ablaze state Congress chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi's house in retaliation to her alleged derogatory remarks against Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati.
The Samajwadi Party on Thursday claimed that its state unit president Akhilesh Yadav and several other leaders have been put under "house arrest" and party workers tortured to prevent them from leading a one-day agitation against the Bahujan Samaj Party government. "The state government is functioning in an autocratic manner. It is not even allowing me to reach the party office," Akhilesh said. The SP had announced a village-level protest.
