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.
The ruling Bahujan Samaj Party, which has already crossed swords with the Congress, is all set to launch its campaign for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections from the bastion of Gandhi family -- Amethi and Rae Bareli -- on February 9. The party, while announcing its plan to organise Brahmin Sammelans across the state, has decided to organise its first convention in Amethi, parliamentary constituency of All India Congress Committee general secretary Rahul Gandhi.
In the 243-member Rajya Sabha, Congress and its allies do not not have a majority with its number placed at 92 and needs the support of the MPs of these parties supporting the government from outside.
Terming the Mayawati government as "most insensitive and barbaric", Union Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal on Friday said the Bahujan Samaj Party regime has surpassed the previous Mulayam Singh Yadav government on this count.
Widening its probe, the Income Tax Department, which is looking into the source of money used in a garland presented to Chief Minister Mayawati, will also investigate funds and donations received by Bahujan Samaj Party in the last few months.
Bahujan Samaj Party supremo and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati on Tuesday challenged the new chief minister Akhilesh Yadav's diktat, changing the names of each of the eight districts carved out by her as well as that of two institutions named after Dalit icons in the state.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday agreed to bring a Constitution amendment bill for reservation to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in promotions in government jobs while responding to vociferous uproar in both Houses of Parliament on Thursday.
The Central Bureau of Investigation on Thursday registered a case against Bahujan Samaj Party member of Parliament Purushottam Dwivedi and four others in the alleged rape of a minor Dalit girl in Banda district of Uttar Pradesh in December last year.
India's plurality often teaches politicians lessons that they might not otherwise learn, says Neerja Chowdhury.
They are among the 750 MPs who have bought confiscated arms in the past 25 years, an RTI reply has revealed.
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
Attacking the Bahujan Samaj Party, the Samajwadi Party said on Tuesday that the Mayawati-led party was a "B-team" of Bharatiya Janata Party and the two parties were hand in glove with each other.
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.
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.'
A day after failing to topple the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government during the trust vote, leaders of the Left parties, the Bahujan Samaj Party and the United National Progressive Alliance met in New Delhi to chalk out their future course of action.The meeting, held at the residence of BSP supremo Mayawati, was attended by Communist Party of India Marxist General Secretary Prakash Karat, Communist Party of India leaders A B Bardhan and D Raja.
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.
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.
Sticking with the Brahmin-OBC combination for deputy chief ministers, Brajesh Pathak and Keshav Prasad Maurya took oath on Friday as deputies of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
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.
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.
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.
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.
While Justice Kant and Bhuyan delivered the majority verdict, Justice Datta dismissed Ansari's appeal against the Allahabad high court order.
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.
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."
"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.
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.
"The court of Additional Sessions Judge/First MP-MLA Court Durgesh also imposed a fine of Rs 5 lakh on Mukhtar and Rs 1 lakh on Afzal," ADGC Criminal Neeraj Srivastava said.
With Bollywood connections of Amar Singh not a secret, the SP could well take a lead in bringing stars during the electioneering.
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.
Addressing media persons in Varanasi, Sinha claimed that an industrialist was working out a deal between the two, but refused to identify him.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
