Will the external affairs minister's foreign travels end up affecting his chances at the hustings?
The Samajwadi Party on Monday said it would provide free electricity to weavers and farmers and waive loans of kisans if it was voted to power in the Uttar Pradesh assembly election.
Battle lines have been drawn for Sunday's poll for the 68-member Himachal Pradesh assembly where political heavyweights Prem Kumar Dhumal and Virbhadra Singh are jostling for the attention of voters, for whom the issue of price rise and corruption seems to have surpassed the anti-incumbency factor.
The Bharatiya Janata Party accused the Congress-led regime of using the Central Bureau of Investigation as a "Damocles' sword" against vulnerable opposition leaders.
The government on Wednesday night exuded confidence to get the Lokpal and Lokayukta Bill passed in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday, despite not having a clear majority.
In the Upper House of Parliament, where the Lokpal Bill is likely to be taken up on Wednesday, the Congress does not have majority on its own or with its allies in the UPA.
The Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party on Tuesday staged a walk out from the Lok Sabha shortly before the voting on the Lokpal Bill in protest against the government bringing a "weak" legislation.
In a setback to the main opposition Samajwadi Party, the BJP wrested both Rampur and Azamgarh Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh.
Bharatiya Janata Party President Rajnath Singh was on Saturday denied permission to visit riot-hit Muzaffarnagar even as he accused the Samajwadi Party government of selectively targeting his party leaders.
The Union home minister also asserted that the 2022 Uttar Pradesh polls will lay the foundation for the BJP's victory in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
An all-party meeting on Monday failed to hammer out a consensus over the controversial Insurance Bill, which was scheduled to be taken up in Rajya Sabha.
Rashtriya Janata Dal supremo Lalu Prasad on Thursday hit back at Nitin Gadkari for his derogatory remarks against him and Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, saying the Bharatiya Janata Party president has gone 'mentally bankrupt'. "We will first try to give Gadkari tablets to cure his mental bankruptcy, then put him on capsules and if the tablets and capsules fail, we will put him on injection," Prasad told a press conference in Patna.
'People are questioning these highways and expressways in UP because ultimately, they want to get bread and butter first.'
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.
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.
Apart from the two major parties (Cong: 98; BJP: 67) the Bahujan Samaj Party is leading in four seats, while the Janata Dal-United and the Communist Party of India-Marxist are ahead in one each.
SP has already fielded its sitting MLA from Gauriganj seat.
"The two Lals (Advani and the Left parties) have joined hands and are strengthening the haathi (elephant)," SP leader Amar Singh told media-persons after attending a meeting of the United Progressive Alliance held at External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee's residence in Delhi.
Voting in the Rajya Sabha on the Women's Reservation Bill was deferred by a day on Monday.
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.
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.
Akhilesh and his father Mulayam attended the swearing-in ceremony of Yogi Adityanath, a move that surprised one and all.
Campaigning for the Uttar Pradesh state assembly elections came to a close on Thursday evening, with top leaders of different political outfits unleashing their horses in the 10 districts running along the Uttarakhand and Nepal border, where the seventh and final round of polling will take place on Saturday. Sharat Pradhan in Lucknow.
In contrast to the inertia in the SP camp, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party showed no complacency in the run-up to the polls this month.
'Congress and BSP are in the fray, but not in the contest.'
The Third Front, which has a history of mutative existence, hops into the new year with the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhgham joining the group of disparate parties ganging up on a non-Congress, non-Bharatiya Janata Party platform.
'Our leader is Modi and everyone has been saying Modi hai to desh hai'
Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh and his party colleague Ram Gopal Yadav along with eight other new members of Parliament were administered oath by Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari on Wednesday.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Tuesday announced a whopping Rs 7,000-crore in financial schemes dedicated to late Bahujan Samaj Party founder Kanshiram and asked party workers to be ready for mid-term polls. Addressing a massive Savdhaan Raho, Aage Badho rally at Ramabai Ambedkar grounds near Lucknow, she cautioned the people against being induced by the 'media, mafia or money' which political rivals Samajwadi Party, Congress and the BJP could use against the BSP
Mayawati added that the BSP's relationship with the SP is never going to end and she will try to ensure that their relationship stays intact.
BJP's central leadership has thrown its weight behind Yogi Adityanath, putting a stop to murmurs against the state government months ahead of the assembly polls.
While a few 'bahubalis' managed wins in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, a majority of them were rejected by the voters. According to the results, many alleged dons-turned-politicians failed to make it to the Uttar Pradesh Assembly.
Besides Yadav, the CBI is likely to question Gayatri Prajapati, who was arrested in 2017 following a complaint of rape by a woman residing in Chitrakoot.
Addressing media persons in Varanasi, Sinha claimed that an industrialist was working out a deal between the two, but refused to identify him.
The 288-member Maharashtra Legislative Assembly constitutes the electoral college Rajya Sabha elections, scheduled on June 10, and a candidate needs 42 votes to win a seat.
The Bharatiya Janata Party in Uttar Pradesh will be reduced to its 2012 tally of 47 or thereabouts as the wind is blowing in favour of the Akhilesh Yadav-led coalition this election, says Swami Prasad Maurya who left the saffron party to join the Samajwadi Party last month.
Two men from her village have been arrested. National Security Act will be invoked against the accused.
Members of the Bahujan Samaj Party and Samajwadi Party on Thursday forced the adjournment of the Rajya Sabha for an hour, over the alleged inflammatory remarks made by Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee chief Bahuguna Joshi, against state Chief Minister Mayawati.Unrelenting BSP and SP members continued to raise the issue and the Left parties too supported them. As the din continued, Ansari adjourned the house till 12 pm.
Moments after being expelled from Samajwadi Party, Amar Singh on Tuesday struck a defiant note ruling out quitting his Rajya Sabha seat and termed as baseless reports about his cosying up to Congress, Nationalist Congress Party and Bahujan Samaj Party.
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