The rebels have formed a separate outfit, the Loktantrik BSP, and sought its merger with the Samajwadi Party.
Those whose cover has been reduced include Samajwadi Party chief and former Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav, leaders Shivpal Yadav and Azam Khan, Dimple Yadav and Ram Gopal Yadav, and Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati.
The seats had fallen vacant following deaths of Bahujan Samaj Party member B R Verma and Samajwadi Party member Vikramaditya Pandey recently.
Abstention by the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Telangana Rashtra Samithi also helped the government get its legislation through in the upper house where the ruling party does not enjoy a majority.
Mayawati said that the BSP and the SP would not ally with the Congress party in the upcoming elections.
Joining hands with smaller parties with a political base in different castes was a part of the BJP strategy as it won big in Uttar Pradesh in the 2017 assembly polls and 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
A three-member Lucknow bench of the court in a 2-1 verdict declined to settle the issue of disqualification of the deserting BSP MLAs, saying the issue can be decided only by the Speaker.
Mulayam Singh Yadav's son took exception to certain remarks made by a BSP member against his father.
"All you have to do is to put the picture of (UP Chief Minister) Yogi (Adityanath) in front of you and Priyanka Gandhi's picture and you won't need to ask any more questions," said Khurshid, who is the chief of the party's manifesto committee for the state.
With an intention of pinching the opposition, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday launched a verbal attack, saying the Congress, Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party believe in 'kuch ka saath kuch ka vikas'.
The April 11 polling will decide the fate of several political bigwigs.
Piqued by the Congress' sustained tirade against the Bharatiya Janata Party's election campaign committee chief Narendra Modi following his multi-pronged attack on the ruling party, BJP on Wednesday replied by dubbing Congress as the "most communal" party suffering from "Modi-phobia".
Asaduddin Owaisi's AIMIM, which is going to contest next year's Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls on the promise of creating leadership among Muslims, has created unease in the political parties that so far considered the members of the minority community as their core "vote bank".
While many exit polls have given either the Bharatiya Janata Party or Congress a majority in Uttarakhand, several of them have predicted a close fight between the two major players or a hung assembly -- a scenario in which the role of winning independents and candidates of regional outfits like the Aam Aadmi Party, the Samajwadi Party, the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal will become significant in government formation.
Mishra's assertion came amid a growing perception that the BSP could again join hands with the saffron party if the 2022 assembly elections throw a hung House.
SP chief Akhilesh Yadav said the future of the country should be better for all sections, including farmers and Muslims.
As the Opposition held its first meeting on the Presidential polls and names of Farooq Abdullah and Gopalkrishna Gandhi also cropped up, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party reached out to several parties across the political spectrum to build a consensus choice with senior party leader and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh speaking to Sharad Pawar, Mallikarjun Kharge (Congress), Mamata Banerjee (Trinamool Congress), Akhilesh Yadav (Samajwadi Party) and Naveen Patnaik (Biju Janata Dal).
The ruling Samajwadi Party on Tuesday wrested from the Bahujan Samaj Party two assembly seats, including one represented by the BSP chief, Mayawati, before her resignation.
He is learnt to have discussed the formulation of a joint opposition strategy on the issue of Lakhimpur Kheri violence and the detention of prominent leaders including Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.
The notices were issued on a petition filed by Pal's wife Pooja Pal seeking a probe into the case by an independent agency.
BSP members storm the well and demand the dismissal of the UP government for arresting their colleagues Mohammed Tahir.
Speaker Manohar Joshi has decided to call an all-party meeting to discuss how to ensure smooth functioning of the House.
Ansari said the Muslim community is now shedding the 'illusion' created by opposition parties like the Samajwadi Party, the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Congress.
Mayawati's failure to contest the election as also her not organising large election rallies, as she once did, have led political pundits to conclude, rightly or wrongly, that she is 'out of the race', Sunil Gatade and Venkatesh Kesri point out.
There was a "broad agreement" on five issues over which the 18 parties will target the government
Three MLAs abstained, while 20 legislators, most of them from Congress and the NCP, including Congress's Ashok Chavan and Vijay Wadettiwar, both former ministers, were absent during the trust vote.
An official said the Prayagraj Development Authority is trying to identify the homes of the 37 people and action 'according to the law' will be taken if their building plans have not been approved.
The five-day event, to appraise and train RSS volunteers on how to propagate nationalism and promote Swadeshi along with other such issues among the masses, is held every fifth year in different cities and states of the country.
The plea was filed by several opposition leaders seeking counting of voter verifiable paper audit trail slips of 50 per cent of electronic voting machines in each constituency before the Lok Sabha results are declared.
The idea is to reinforce Mulayam's 'dhartiputra' or son-of-the-soil image, say party sources.
Without ruling out the possibility of working with the Congress after polls, Akhilesh said he has good relations with the party and would be 'happy' if the next prime minister was from his home state.
In a letter addressed to the people of Rae Bareli, the Congress leader also thanked the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party, which did not field any candidate against her.
While Brijlal Khabri, former BSP MP from Jalaun, is UP Congress Committee chairman, former UP cabinet minister and Mayawati's once close confidant Naseemuddin Siddiqui heads the party's state media department. Completing the ex-BSP troika, Nakul Dubey, former UP cabinet minister in the Mayawati dispensation (2007-12), is one of the six UP Congress regional presidents. He is reckoned among the most active of the three.
Ashok Chowdhury, a Dalit politics expert said, "BJP had impressed the Dalits in the 2014, 2017 and 2019 elections, but it's difficiult to retain them now".
The panchayat polls or those for district panchayat chiefs are not held on a party symbol but candidates enjoy the tacit support of various parties.
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