Bahujan Samaj Party general secretary Satish Misra, who is regarded as the architect of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati's much-hyped 'social engineering', on Tuesday flatly denied having called his party president corrupt.
Post Nitish's exit, 17 parties plan to meet on Friday to formulate their future course of action. Congress president Sonia Gandhi has invited Sharad Yadav to join them, reports Archis Mohan.
Hours after a statue of Bahujan Samaj Party chief and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati was vandalised on Thursday afternoon, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav swung into action and ensured the re-erection of a new statue. Sharat Pradhan reports
Reacting sharply to Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi's sweeping allegations about 'rape' and 'mass murder' of farmers in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Monday termed it as a 'bunch of lies.'
His remarks came a day after the Samajwadi Party wrote to Rajbhar and Shivpal Singh Yadav that they are free to go wherever they feel they can get more respect.
Terming the Lok Sabha elections a "prestige issue" for the Bahujan Samaj Party, its supremo Mayawati on Monday asked the partymen to set aside their differences and redouble their efforts to ensure maximum representation in Parliament.
"I will be able to open my cards (on the presidential polls) only after consultations with party MPs, MLAs and other leaders," she said addressing her first press conference in Delhi after taking over the reins of UP for the fourth time.
Congress today received a shot in the arm in its bid to revive the party in Uttar Pradesh with a former Bahujan Samaj Party Rajya Sabha member joining it.
Playing the secular card like Bahujan Samaj Party, Samajwadi Party and Rashtriya Janta Dal on Tuesday helped the United Progressive Alliance government in comfortably shaking off the Opposition challenge of cut motions.
According to the latest head count by Congress's managers, the United Progressive Alliance has only 271 seats in the Lok Sabha, though the requisite majority in the 545-member House is 273. For the ruling party, the issue is not about saving the government, but about crossing the majority mark to send the decisive signal that the UPA enjoys a clear majority and has the moral right to continue in power, say sources.
With Bollywood connections of Amar Singh not a secret, the SP could well take a lead in bringing stars during the electioneering.
In a major relief to Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati, the Supreme Court on Friday quashed a nine-year-long disproportionate assets case against her and pulled up the Central Bureau of Investigation for initiating the probe against her without specific directions from the court.
Taking a dig at the Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party government, Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said that his party will revive in Uttar Pradesh and bring development to the state, during his visit to Ambedkar Nagar."The Congress will change the fortunes of Uttar Pradesh," said Gandhi, adding that people who were playing politics over religion have failed."The future of the country lies in the hands of the people residing in the villages," said Gandhi."
Addressing media persons in Varanasi, Sinha claimed that an industrialist was working out a deal between the two, but refused to identify him.
With the Rajya Sabha failing to take up the contentious bill providing for quota in promotion for SCs and STs, the Bahujan Samaj Party on Thursday demanded extending the ongoing session of Parliament and asked the Centre to find a ;middle path' in coal block issue to end disruptions caused by the Bharatiya Janata Party.
As the fracas over the coal-gate continued for the 12th day in Parliament, Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati on Thursday alleged that the United Progressive Alliance government was playing a double game on the SC/ST quota Bill, and urged it to get the House in order first.
Even as the Parliament was paralysed for the 11th day over the coal block allocation, the unruly side of its two of its members shocked the nation on Wednesday.
The Supreme Court on Monday admitted petitions filed by Bahujan Samaj Party leaders, challenging the quashing of charges against Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and other top party leaders--in a case relating to an alleged assault on Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati in Lucknow in 1995.
Samajwadi Party tops the chart of crorepati candidates and its nominees' average assets are also the highest compared to others with Rs 87 lakh.
The July 5 'Bharat Bandh' to protest fuel price hike is unlikely to get the support of all non-Congress non-United Progressive Alliance parties with Bahujan Samaj Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Lok Janshakti Party and Rashtriya Lok Dal so far maintaining a silence on which side of the political divide they are.
The BSP boss has left no stone unturned in running down Narendra Modi, particularly in the context of Muslims and OBCs. A large chunk of the 'most backwards' among the OBCs had been part of her vote bank. What also made her anxious were reports of a sudden shift of a section of Dalits from the BSP to Modi.
Congress on Thursday dubbed as 'vulgar display of money' in politics the garlanding of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati with currency notes.
Taking suo moto cognisance of the allegedly multi-crore currency note garland bestowed upon Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati at the party rally on Monday, the Income-Tax department issued notice to her, while her minister quoted the value of the garland at "just Rs. 21 lakh".
The Left parties, which hold the key to United Progressive Alliance's success in the Presidential election, appeared to be pushing for their own candidate for the polls.
As Rahul Gandhi continued his kisan padyatra for the second consecutive day on Wednesday, Uttar Pradesh's ruling Bahujan Samaj Party claimed that his "love" for farmers is mere a political drama in view of the forthcoming assembly elections in the state.
Voting in the Rajya Sabha on the Women's Reservation Bill was deferred by a day on Monday.
Four members of the newly formed Akhil Bharatiya Congress Dal will be inducted into the Cabinet.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati was notably absent from the Gandhi Jayanti function organised on the occasion of Mahatma Gandhi's birth anniversary in Lucknow on Friday.While State Governor B L Joshi and other senior officials were present at the event, Mayawati remained conspicuously absent.While no explanations were provided for her absence, the Bahujan Samaj Party chief's absence left everyone wondering.
The Bahujan Samaj Party will contest in all the 140 assembly seats in Kerala in the forthcoming elections, scheduled to be held on April 13. Speaking to mediapersons on Saturday, Gafoor Puthuppadi, general secretary, BSP Kerala unit, alleged that both the ruling Communist part of India-Marxist led Left Democratic Front and the Congress-led opposition United Democratic Front were anti-development, and had betrayed people's expectations.
Mayawati, who has raised the pitch for the dismissal of the 41-month-old government, described the move as a mark of protest against the speaker's continued recognition of the BSP's 37 defectors as members of the ruling Samajwadi Party.
The Lok Sabha was adjourned till 2 pm by Speaker Somnath Chatterjee after angry members of the Bahujan Samaj Party continued to interrupt Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi's speech during the trust vote debate on Tuesday.Gandhi, who started his speech by saying, " I am not going to speak as the leader of a political party but as an Indian," was repeatedly interrupted by noisy protests from the Opposition benches.
In yet another reversal of previous Mayawati government's decision, the Uttar Pradesh government has changed the colour of state traffic police's uniform from blue to khaki.
As many as 624 candidates are in the fray in this round of voting being held in Pilibhit, Lakhimpur Kheri, Sitapur, Hardoi, Unnao, Lucknow, Rae Bareli, Banda, and Fatehpur districts.
Bahujan Samaj Party Member of Parliament Shafiqur Rahman Barq, who had walked out of Lok Sabha while Vande Mataram was being played, has been dragged to court by a social activist for "showing disrespect" to the national song. Pradip Tewari, in his petition filed in the Chief Judicial Magistrate's court of Pilibhit district on Monday, has also accused Barq of passing derogatory remarks against Vande Mataram, his counsel Sant Ram Rathore said.
Candidates contesting from Kunda (in Pratapgarh), Malhani (in Jaunpur), and Rasara (in Ballia) failed to secure enough votes to prevent forfeiture of their deposits.
While reserving the verdict, the Bench also comprising Justices H K Sema, A R Lakshmanan, P K Balasubramaniyan and D K Jain, asked the contesting parties to file written submissions by Friday.
Uttar Pradesh Lokayukta indicted 199 government officials, including two ministers, in the Rs 1,410 cr memorial scam. However, the omission of then chief minister Mayawati from the list has raised eyebrows. Sharat Pradhan reports
Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati renewed demand for a Special Protection Group cover speaks volumes of her obsession for security, for which she already has more than 200 personnel to guard her round the clock. Sharat Pradhan reports.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday reserved its verdict on Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati's plea challenging a Central Bureau of Investigation probe against her in an alleged disproportionate assets case. A bench headed by P Sathasivam reserved its order after a two-hour-long hearing during which the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister attacked the CBI for "fixing" the disproportionate assets case against her, a charge refuted by the agency.
The occasion, which brought Yadav, a former chief minister, and the Bahujan Samaj Party supremo together was a meeting convened to finalise nominees for the State Human Rights Commission. The arch rivals had parted ways following the collapse of their coalition government in 1995 and have been bitter critics attacking each other and rarely acknowledging even the presence of the other at public functions.
