In a stunning blow to the BJP on Wednesday, the party lost bypolls to all the three Lok Sabha seats it contested, including its bastion Gorakhpur, and Phulpur in Uttar Pradesh, besides Araria in Bihar.
The party 'Mera Adhikar Rashtriya Dal' (MARD), registered in 2018, had unsuccessfully contested the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from Lucknow and Varanasi.
In the recent past, Adityanath and the RSS seem to have come closer. The warmth is more on the part of the RSS. And even now, not all requests from the RSS are accommodated by the UP government, points out Aditi Phadnis.
Patel's victory, which came against heavy odds, has given the Congress and the rest of the Opposition the confidence that Modi and Shah weren't invincible.
According to some of those present in the meeting, Mayawati also referred to the family feud in the Yadav clan, saying after Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav's younger brother Shivpal decided to contest separately the community votes were not transferred to the BSP, and the SP could not even save its "family seats".
Actor-politician Shatrughan Sinha, who joined the Congress ahead of the Lok Sabha election, lost to Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad from Patna Sahib constituency in Bihar by 2.84 votes.
The party, banking on the legacy of former PM Chaudhary Charan Singh, had no MP and its lone MLA had switched to the BJP.
Nothing has been done for Dalits in the last four years, Nagina MP Yashwant Singh wrote in a letter to the PM.
Gandhi met Pawar within hours of the BJP's defeat in the Gorakhpur and Phulpur Lok Sabha bypolls in Uttar Pradesh.
In 2018, the BJP's rare successes in north-east India aside, everything that could go wrong, did go wrong for the party.
The two parties named the seats distributed among them in a statement signed by SP president Akhilesh Yadav and BSP chief Mayawati.
The stage is set for Narendra Modi's rally on the outskirts of Gorakhpur on Thursday, with the Bharatiya Janata Party claiming that it will be the "greatest of all" rally addressed by the party's prime ministerial candidate in Uttar Pradesh so far.
Mayawati was outmanoeuvred by the BJP in the race for the Rajya Sabha in Uttar Pradesh just days after she helped the Samajwadi Party snatch two Lok Sbaha seats from the saffron party in bypolls.
'I don't know how Jayaji could ever think I am not on the same page as her.'
Rajbhar said the seat-sharing talks with the BJP remained unsuccessful.
The seat sharing formula reached between the BSP and SP is not on the basis of who emerged stronger in the previous election.
Congress president Rahul Gandhi and general secretary in charge of western Uttar Pradesh, Jyotiraditya Scindia, will accompany her.
Take a look at the famous faces who exercised their democratic right.
He sustained a fracture in his left arm in the accident which took place around 7.15pm on the Tapti river bridge near Gorakhpur when he was coming from Barabanki, North Eastern Railway CPRO Sanjay Yadav said.
The parties seem to have forgotten their two decade-old antagonism for a 'political revolution' which they hope would 'last long'.
The Bharatiya Janata Party is considering fielding Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath from Ayodhya as its senior leaders meet to finalise candidates for the assembly polls starting from February 10.
Akhilesh Yadav confirmed in a television interview that the press conference is on the alliance in Uttar Pradesh, while parrying questions on the Congress.
On the eve of the sixth and penultimate phase of the marathon Uttar Pradesh elections, Rediff.com's Aslam Hunani reports on what's at stake.
Akhilesh said that the defeat of the Dalit candidate would cement his party's relations with Mayawati-led BSP.
The first of the two-phase urban local body polls in Uttar Pradesh will take place on Thursday, a major poll battle in the politically crucial state ahead of the 2024 parliamentary elections.
'NDA allies have realised that if they don't dump the BJP, then people will dump their party in 2019.' 'People's mood is against the BJP'
'For the BJP to lose this virtual pocket borough of the saffron brotherhood demonstrates how resolutely the people of Gorakhpur have turned against the party,' says Amulya Ganguli.
The rapprochement could open the door to an anti-saffron alliance for the 2019 general elections, reports Archis Mohan.
Ministerial expansion: Focus on Purvanchal, Brahmin voters in UP.
The elections in this phase are seen as a big test for the Bharatiya Janata Party
The BJP finalised its candidates for 172 assembly seats in UP and is likely to field both Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya who are currently MLCs.
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.
The BJP's 2022 assembly election win may have further consolidated Adityanath's stock within the BJP. The saffron party is now set to win the UP state polls twice in a row, a feat achieved by no other party in three decades.
Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt may now play a role in politics with the Samajwadi Party on Thursday deciding to field him as its candidate from Lucknow in the Lok Sabha polls. Bhojpuri sensation Manoj Tiwari would be the SP's candidates from Gorakhpur
Nishad said he will meet senior BJP leaders, including Amit Shah, in Delhi on Monday to finalise the constituencies where the party will field its candidates.
Shivpal-Yadav led Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party-Lohia spokesperson Deepak Mishra said it was a courtesy call.
For Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who continues the Gandhi family legacy of active politics that began several generations ago, the formal entry into politics was two decades in the making.
The induction of Shiv Pratap Shukla, a Brahmin face in the BJP, is being seen as a well-calculated move to keep the upper caste in good humour.
This is the first time that no-confidence motion notices have been moved against the Modi government in 4 years.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances