Holding non-Congress governments responsible for lack of development in Uttar Pradesh in the last 22 years, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday said only Congress, led by Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, can change this "bad situation" and provide good governance in the state.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said on Tuesday that Uttar Pradesh is a "victim of short sighted politics" but refrained from blaming its Chief Minister Mayawati for it.
"The government will establish an Arabic-Persian university in state capital Lucknow and we have allocated Rs 10 crore for the purpose. Besides, the number of madrasas on government grant-list will also be increased from 360 to 460," Mayawati said, addressing a national convention on the 'Problems of Muslim Community: Reasons and Solutions' in Lucknow.
In a veiled reference to reports that Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi had rescued 15,000 Gujaratis from Uttarakhand, former Uttar Pradesh CM Mayawati on Sunday said the Bahujan Samaj Party condemns a political party whose leader seeks to become a prime ministerial candidate but talks about saving people only from his own state.
In an exclusive interview to CNN-IBN's National Bureau Chief Bhupendra Chaubey, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati talks about her party's prospects in the assembly elections.
Mayawati said she would announce her party's stand in New Delhi on Tuesday.
"I expect the Bahujan Samaj Party under my leadership to take charge of governance in India," she said in an interview to Hong Kong-based CFO Asia magazine.
With the Uttar Pradesh police under fire for having allegedly botched up investigations into the murder of Aarushi and the Talwar family's domestic help Hemraj, three senior police officials who were involved in the probe were shunted out with immediate effect.
The Uttar Pradesh chief minister also suspended the director general of Crime Branch-Criminal Investigation Department, which has been investigating the case.
In a bid to project a non-partisan face, Anna Hazare and his team on Sunday shot off a series of letters to leaders, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Rahul Gandhi and Bharatiya Janata Party President Nitin Gadkari, trying to put them on the mat on the Lokpal issue ahead of Assembly polls in five states.
As if Rs 6,000 crores already spent was not enough, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Friday told the state assembly that all the memorials and statues erected by her in Lucknow and in Noida would not put any further drain on the state exchequer.
"Congress workers should use the Right to Information Act to seek the truth and visit every block to expose the lies of the BSP supremo before the people," All-India Congress Committee general secretary and the party's in-charge of the state Digvijay Singh said.
The National Election Watch has put out a report pertaining the chief ministers of the five states going to polls -- Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur.
Apparently sending a strong signal to the minorities, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati has said that despite sharing power with the Bharatiya Janata Party three times, she always kept the saffron party on tenterhooks.
In an obvious bid to settle her scores with the Centre, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Tuesday got FIRs lodged against two Union ministers and two Uttar Pradesh Congress leaders for bashing up activists of Samajwadi Party near the venue of Rahul Gandhi's campaign rally in Phoolpur on Monday.
Bahujan Samaj Party general secretary and Uttar Pradesh Minister S C Mishra will resign from the ministry after a couple of months to focus on wooing upper castes across the country to the party ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.
Wednesday's Vikravandi by-election has become a referendum on the Stalin government, notes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Karnataka has the highest number of medical seats in the country at 11,745, of which 3,750 seats were in government institutions and 7,995 seats were in private colleges.
Defying Maharashtra government's order asking him not to make provocative speeches, Raj, addressing a rally in Thane, spewed venom against North Indians justified his agitation against them who he said encroached on job prospects of locals in Maharashtra. He said it would not be possible for him to abide by the government's gag order and he cannot be a 'mute spectator when interests of Maharashtra are at stake'.
The SC on Monday transferred the entire Central Bureau of Investigation case file to the CVC.
Three of the fence-sitters rule fairly large states Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Odisha that together send 63 members to Lok Sabha -- where the Congress or other opposition parties have been pushed to the margins.
Sources said the opposition parties would look to avoid the prickly leadership question as of now and emphasise on building a common ground.
Rita Bahuguna Joshi, who has been in the eye of storm over the on-going war between her party and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati, is not known for indulging in any kind of loose talk for which she has been charged by Mayawati.
A full majority might be difficult, but Mayawati is in a commanding position this time.
Naidu is keen to enrol BSP into the 'Third Front', known as UNPA to fill the gap left by the departure of Mulayam Singh Yadav's Samajwadi Party recently to join hands with the UPA.
'Everybody knows Mayawati sells party tickets and even her party members take pride in telling this'
A Bharatiya Janata Party delegation led by party chief Nitin Gadkari on Wednesday met President Pratibha Patil demanding an inquiry into the alleged corruption, abuse of power and worsening law and order situation in Uttar Pradesh under Chief Minister Mayawati's rule.
She also attacked the "fashion" among politicians of visiting temples during the poll campaign and said the Election Commission should take note.
Slammed by the high court, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Wednesday ordered a CBI probe into the murder of two chief medical officers of Lucknow.
BSP candidate Virendra Singh defeated SP's Anil Rajbhar, son of Ramjit Rajbhar, whose death necessitated the bypoll, by 3,510 votes.
Targeting Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati, Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday called as 'very unfair' the forcible acquisition of farmers' land in Aligarh and adjoining areas, an issue he raised with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
The CVC has submitted its opinion to the Supreme Court on whether or not former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati be prosecuted in the multi-crore Taj Heritage Corridor scam case on the basis of evidence gathered by Centr
An aggressive Congress and the party-led United Progressive Alliance government worked in cohesion on Thursday to attack Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati from both the AICC as well as the newly-constituted Group of Ministers' platform, set up to bridge the 'information deficit.'
"We have not received any letter from Bachchan. When he is not the owner of the land (in Barabanki), how can he donate it," Mayawati remarked at a press conference in New Delhi.
A myth was nurtured for nearly three decades that any chief minister of Uttar Pradesh who visited Noida in Gautam Buddh Nagar district was doomed to go out of power.
Taking on the Bharatiya Janata Party over the induction of tainted former Bahujan Samaj Party minister Babu Singh Kushwaha, Rahul Gandhi on Saturday claimed that he wanted to join the Congress after being sacked by Chief Minister Mayawati, but the party closed the doors on him. Addressing election meetings in Gorapkhpur, the All India Congress Committee general secretary also said the BJP has inducted a person who is part of the "corruption race" in the state.
Mayawati's party holds the key in the presidential poll given the fact that the candidate of the ruling alliance can succeed only with the full backing of the Left and the BSP.
