The Samajwadi Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party appeared to take early leads in Uttar Pradesh where counting of votes began after a seven-phased elections concluded on Saturday.
A torrent of issues ranging from price rise to demand for dismissal of Mayawati government and immediate execution of Ajmal Kasab and Afzal Guru drowned the second day of the Monsoon session of Parliament on Tuesday.
With the SP leadership already known to be looking for an opportunity to shake hands with Congress, Mayawati's decision was bound to propel the Congress leadership to respond at last -- even though the withdrawal was not likely to even remotely affect the fate of the UPA government. Political compulsions are bound to bring the two adversaries to a negotiating table since both have a tougher task ahead of them -- to tackle the visibly increasing might of the BSP.
More politicians are getting "Z-plus" security and the new entrants include Union Minister Beni Prasad Verma and Bahujan Samaj Party MP Brajesh Pathak months after the list of VIPs in this category was pruned during P Chidambaram's tenure as home minister.
In a frontal attack on the ruling Bahujan Samaj Party, the Congress on Saturday pointedly blamed the Mayawati government for the prevailing backwardness and poverty in Bundelkhand area.
Virtually stroking the fire on the suddenly hyped issue of reservation to the Jat community, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati on Wednesday blamed the Congress-led central government for its continued dilly-dallying.
In the past five years, UP's Opposition remained passive and defensive against the BJP, a trend that does not augur well for the impending battle.
Leader of Opposition in Vidhan Sabha and BSP state president Swami Prasad Maurya said, "the government is overlooking the transfer policy and within 70 days of its formation 90 per cent IAS, IPS, PCS and PPS officers have been transferred".
Bahujan Samaj Party president Mayawati's fad for building memorials and parks with umpteen statues of Dalit icons and elephants, the party symbol, has a dark side too. Clearly, there appears to be a huge scam behind every dream project of the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister.
The AAP may secure 43 per cent share while the BJP is expected to get 35 per cent vote share.
Former minister in the Bahujan Samaj Party government in Uttar Pradesh Babu Singh Kushwaha has alleged that he is being trapped into the National Rural Health Mission scam as a part of a conspiracy hatched by senior bureaucrats.
Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati on Sunday alleged that the "failure" of Congress to alleviate poverty and unemployment among the SCs, STs and OBCs has driven many to Naxalism.
The Bahujan Samaj Party will support the bill for creation of a separate Telangana state if it was introduced in the Parliament, the party supremo and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, Mayawati, said in Hyderabad on Saturday.
Justifying the demand for SPG security cover to Mayawati, senior Bahujan Samaj Party leader and leader of opposition in the Uttar Pradesh state assembly Swami Prasad Maurya on Friday said it was necessary because of the "prevailing goonda raj" of the Samajwadi Party.
Opposition parties in Uttar Pradesh on Thursday demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the mysterious death of a deputy chief medical officer in Lucknow jail, alleging that the ruling Bahujan Samaj Party was shielding the guilty as its leaders were involved in the case.
Talking tough, Chief Election Commissioner S Y Quraishi on Wednesday said Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati should think before criticising the EC order to cover her statues and Bahujan Samaj Party's poll symbols in government parks.
Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati on Tuesday received support from unexpected quarters on the issue of covering elephant statues in poll bound UP with Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi terming the decision as 'ridiculous'.
Bharatiya Janata Party MPs Sunny Deol and Sanjay Dhotre were among those who missed casting their votes in the presidential poll on Monday.
The ruling Bahujan Samaj Party in Uttar Pradesh on Saturday decided to get rid of all the criminal elements in the party by April 30.An announcement to this effect was reportedly made at a day-long meeting of the party's district chiefs and coordinators, addressed by party supremo and UP Chief Minister Mayawati's close confidant and minister Naseemuddin Siddiqui, on Friday.The party chief has resolved to rid the BSP of all criminal and anti-social elements in the party.
All major functionaries of the party are expected to attend the function, but government officials have been told to keep away from the event. Sharat Pradhan reports from Lucknow.
Hours after the work of draping the statues of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati and Bahujan Samaj Party's election symbol elephant was completed, the parks in which they were installed in Lucknow have been closed for the public till the assembly polls get over. There are nine such parks including Manyavar Kanshiramj Green Eco Garden at VIP Road, Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar Samajik Parivartan Sthal, Gomtinagar and Smriti Upvan, Ashiana Kanshiram Smarak, Jail Road.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati has refused to respond to the questionnaire on provisions of the Lokpal Bill, saying that seeking opinion of her party before tabling the bill in the Lok Sabha was contradictory to Parliamentary traditions.
Dozens of statues of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati and numerous that of elephants (which also happens to be ruling Bahujan Samaj Party's election symbol) in and around parks and memorials built by her in Lucknow and Noida were being hurriedly veiled from Monday morning by officials in pursuance of the Election Commission's order.
The SP has offered 11 seats to the Congress and seven seats to the RLD for the upcoming parliamentary elections.
Indicating further closeness with the Mayawati-led party, the Communist Party of India-Marxist has asked its cadre to vote for "non-Congress secular parties like Bahujan Samaj Party" in the coming state elections where the party and the CPI are not contesting.
In a surprise move, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati sacked two more of her ministers on Wednesday evening, taking the number of dropped ministers over the past two months to six.
Efforts to give a final shape to a national alternative to the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party continued on Sunday with Communist Party of India-Marxist general secretary Prakash Karat meeting Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati in Delhi. Karat drove to the Uttar Pradesh chief minister's residence in Delhi and held discussions with her for around three hours.
The Supreme Court on Monday declined to stay the order of the Uttar Pradesh assembly speaker disqualifying five Bahujan Samaj Party legislators under the anti-defection law.
Reacting to recent incidents of clashes in different parts of the state after the swearing in of Akhilesh, Khan termed it a "conspiracy" hatched by BSP workers to defame the government in the name of law and order.
Attacking the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Samajwadi Party, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday sought a chance for the party to rule Uttar Pradesh, promising to change the state in the next ten years when people from outside will flock there for jobs.
The Uttar Pradesh government on Thursday slapped the Gangster's Act on mafia don-turned-Bahujan Samaj Party MP Dhananjay Singh who was arrested last week in connection with a double-murder committed in 2010.
He is the fourth chief minister from the saffron party to head the northern state. Before Adityanath, Kalyan Singh, Ram Prakash Gupta and Rajnath Singh of the BJP had served as Uttar Pradesh chief ministers.
Trying to warm up to Mayawati, rebel Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh said on Saturday that the Bahujan Samaj Party supremo has proved herself against all odds and he can understand her "pain" when she was "humiliated" by Mulayam Singh Yadav.
Petty-minded infighting, ego clashes, lack of finances, failed poll planks/issues, ineffective leadership, confused and demotivated cadres, and acute casteism are some of the causes dragging this national party down in UP.
The Dalit girl, who was raped allegedly by Bahujan Samaj Party Member of Legislative Assembly Purshottam Naresh Dwiwedi, on Tuesday threatened to go on a 'hunger strike' to protest against her 'house arrest', but later withdrew it. The girl alleged that she is 'literally under house arrest' and the police were not allowing any visitor to meet her without frisking and entering their names in a register. The victim said she wants to go to the city but police have confined her.
Pointedly blaming Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi for the United Progressive Alliance's government's nod to Foreign Direct Investment in retail, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati made it clear on Saturday that she would oppose the move tooth and nail."The Bahujan Samaj Party will launch a strong movement against the policy in case the UPA government manages to get the approval of Parliament," she declared.
It was sweet revenge for Mulayam Singh Yadav on Tuesday five years after Mayawati famously said "why kill a dead man" after the Samajwadi supremo was ousted by her in a crushing defeat.
Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati, who virtually arm-twisted the government to bring the quota bill for SC/STs, on Thursday, slammed the Congress for not doing any such thing because of which condition of these communities deteriorated.
A post-poll survey conducted by CNN-IBN, The Week and CSDS in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Manipur has revealed some interesting results. The Samajwadi Party will win 34 per cent of the total vote share of the UP polls, according to the survey.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Bahujan Samaj Party president Mayawati on Sunday ordered suspension of her party MLA Purshottam Narain Dwivedi for his alleged involvement in the gang rape of a minor girl in a village of Banda district, abut 180 kilometers from Lucknow.
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