Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Tuesday targeted Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for his statement that he respects Bahujan Samaj Party founder Kanshi Ram and claimed his party had not "expressed a single word of condolence" on Kanshi Ram's death.
Last week, Nazarwala, our columnist who correctly predicted the 2007 Uttar Pradesh election outcome, said Chief Minister Mayawati's tally in the current assembly election would fall to double digits. Here he outlines what awaits the BJP in UP.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Thursday attacked Congress saying 62 big scams involving around Rs 20 lakh crore have taken place during the UPA regime at the Centre.
The Congress has reacted sharply to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati's demand for creation of smaller states by dividing the state, accusing her of "deliberately adding fuel to the Telangana fire".
"As the border is porous, criminals often commit crimes in India and slip into Nepal through the border. In a bid to provide fast and smooth movement to SSB personnel, the UP government has forwarded a Rs 1,503 crore project to the Centre for approval," UP Parliamentary Affairs Minister Lalji Verma said. The minister lamented that the Centre had reduced the state's financial assistance to modernise police force.
Accusing the Centre of overlooking practical aspects of implementing the Right to Education Act, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati sought funds from the United Progressive Alliance government to enforce the law on Saturday.
Chief Minister Mayawati conducted an aerial survey of the flood-affected areas after which western Uttar Pradesh was declared a disaster-hit zone. The chief minister also sought a flood relief package of Rs 2000 crore from the Centre.
Lalit Srivastav, chairman of the Noida, Greater Noida and Taj Express Way Authority, was given additional charge as CEO of Greater Noida and Taj Express Way Authority.
While Sonia had expressed her intention to inaugurate the bridge, for which Rs 30 crore was given out of the Central Road Fund at her personal behest, Mayawati got her Public Works Department minister Naseemuddin Siddiqui to go ahead with the inauguration, 100 km away from the site of the bridge, in state capital Lucknow itself, 24 hours ahead of schedule on Wednesday afternoon.
Praising the Uttar Pradesh police for sternly handling the Samajwadi Party's anti-government street demonstrations across the state, Chief Minister Mayawati on Thursday issued a fresh warning to all opposition parties to refrain from indulging in such agitations. "Let the SP as well as other opposition parties be warned that they would be severely dealt with in case they choose to disrupt law and order in this state," Mayawati declared.
A statue of Bahujan Samaj Party supremo and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati in the heart of Lucknow was attacked by vandals on Thursday. The statue was attacked with a hammer, beheaded and its hands were chopped off.
Making a veiled attack on the Mayawati government, Congress General Rahul Gandhi said an "elephant" in Lucknow was eating away all the money sent by the Centre for the poor in Uttar Pradesh.
Expelled Samajwadi Party leader and president of newly floated Rastriya Lok Manch (RLM) Amar Singh on Sunday claimed that he was facing threat to his life from SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati.
With the state assembly elections knocking at her doors, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati has now turned her attention to the basic needs of the people.
While Monday's Supreme Court order reinstating 18,000 dismissed Uttar Pradesh policemen came as a bolt from the blue for Chief Minister Mayawati, it has left her predecessor and Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav all pepped up as the recruitments were made during his regime.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Friday literally stumped state Governor B L Joshi for sitting pretty over a bill and ordinance for raising a new special protection force to guard the Rs 6000-crore memorials and parks dedicated to the ruling Bahujan Samaj Party's dalit icons
Strongly opposing Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati's demand for trifurcation of the state, Samajwadi Party on Monday called it a "political gimmick" aimed at diverting people's attention from corruption charges against her.
Though there was no official word from both the parties, the sources claimed that two Uttar Pradesh-based political outfits will contest 37 Lok Sabha seats each.
Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati on Sunday attacked the Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress for "double-crossing" the common man by serving the interests of capitalists.
The Uttar Pradesh government, which had made budgetary allocation of crores of rupees for installation of statues of Chief Minister Mayawati and her mentor Kanshi Ram in the state, has said it is a wrong notion that only statues of dead persons can be installed.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Friday dared Team Anna to fight the next general elections if it wants the Jan Lokpal Bill to be passed in Parliament.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Friday charged the Centre of attempting to clamp central rule in Bundelkhand region that is spread across parts of UP and Madhya Pradesh.Close on the heels of the letter that she sent to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday, Mayawati shot off yet another letter one Friday, saying, "The reported creation of an independent Bundelkhand Development Authority appears to be an attempt by government to impose central rule.
Raising of a dedicated special security force to guard Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati's dream projects -- memorials and statues -- will cost the state exchequer a whopping sum of Rs 53 crores, besides a recurring annual drain of Rs 10 crores on the state exchequer.
All India Congress Committee general secretary Rahul Gandhi appears to be really needling the opposition.
"Commando training should be imparted to all three wings of ATS by November," Mayawati said during a review meeting with top bureaucrats and police officers held in Lucknow on Wednesday evening. The CM also directed the Director General of Police for immediate improvement in crime investigation by ensuring necessary arrangements are being made to use forensic lab and other methods of scientific investigation.
The Congress has kicked off the Uttar Pradesh assembly election campaign against state Chief Minister Mayawati with the party signaling in no uncertain terms that Rahul Gandhi would be at the centre stage of the fight for UP, a battle which is set to last for the next one year as Hindi heartland's biggest state becomes the battleground.
Rahul Gandhi was arrested on Wednesday night by the Uttar Pradesh police after he joined the land war here, pledging full support to farmers fighting against acquisition while lambasting Chief Minister Mayawati.
The Election Commission on Monday said that the range of comments on its direction to cover statues of Mayawati and elephant are not based on substance and are misleading and suggest "a lack of understanding of facts".
Senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh on Saturday backed Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati's demand for inclusion of a Dalit representative in the Lokpal drafting committee while Justice Santosh Hegde does not seem to find any merit in it.
"What was even more shocking that even someone like Anna Hazare, who was spearheading the movement against rising corruption in the country, did not care to ensure inclusion of a Dalit on the committee. After all he hails from Maharastra which gave birth to the greatest Dalit icon Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar, who led several movements for the upliftment of the downtrodden dalits," Mayawati said.
Opening a new front with the Congress, the Mayawati government on Thursday created a new district named after Dalit icon Chhatrapati Shahuji Maharaj that would include Amethi, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's Lok Sabha constituency.
It dismissed a petition filed by the UP government challenging an Allahabad high court order staying investigations into cases against him.
Addressing a press conference shortly after ensuring the approval of the resolution in an unprecedented manner, Mayawati said, "Well, we will now forward this resolution to the centre and it is not for them to get an approval of the parliament to see that Uttar Pradesh is divided into four smaller states in the larger interest of the people."
Training her guns at the Central Bureau of Investigation, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati claimed in the Supreme Court that the disproportionate assets case filed against her was untenable on Wednesday.
The alleged gang-rape and illegal confinement of a minor girl by ruling Bahujan Samaj Party Member of Legislative Assembly Purshottam Naresh Dwivedi in Banda district did cast its shadow on the mega celebrations organised to mark the 55th birthday of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati in Lucknow on Saturday.While the entire BSP machinery was busy with Mayawati's birthday celebrations, the Allahabad high court sprung a surprise.
Bharatiya Janata Party leader Varun Gandhi on Wednesday said all statues of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati would be replaced with those of Lord Ram once the party regains power in the state.
Mayawati was severely criticised both inside and outside Parliament as the currency garland controversy sparked demands for a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the source of money used to make the garland reportedly worth Rs 5 crore.
Indian democracy is fast turning into by the elite, for the elite and of the elite, says M R Venkatesh.
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.
