He was billed as the next big thing in Dalit politics in Uttar Pradesh and a challenge for the Bahujan Samaj Party but Mayawati's party is least impressed by the exploits of Chandrasekhar Azad 'Ravan' let alone consider him a threat.
Gandhi said he has respect for BSP patriarch Kanshi Ram for articulating the Dalit voice of Uttar Pradesh, even though the Congress had suffered during that phase.
'There are around 400 Lok Sabha constituencies where Dalits and Muslims combined constitute 30% of the electorate.' 'Also, 90% to 95% of Dalits and Muslims go out and vote.' 'So, if they are come together, they become significant electorally.'
Addressing a public event in Orai in Jalaun district, where elections are scheduled on February 20 in the third phase, she went all guns blazing against the BJP, the Congress and the SP.
'I will make Akash join the BSP movement and give him a chance to learn,' she said in a statement.
'People are saying Mayawati has an understanding with the BJP.' 'They are calling us the BJP's 'B' team which I did not like.'
The core BSP campaign continues to be 'cadre-based' and personal connect, such as knocking each door or through nukkad sabhas.
The PM is seen as slipping up in confidence levels as aired by his 'exposure' of the BRS on a crucial issue as alliance negotiations, which is not done under normal circumstances, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
'Kejriwal tries to project that his party is not Hindu virodhi.'
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.
'Ambedkar's ideas have their own teeth -- if you don't have an appetite for them, you can't swallow them.'
She said neither the Congress nor the BJP works in the interests of the upper castes' poor and the remaining majority.
'Imagine a situation where an upright officer refuses to carry out a chief minister's or a central minister's orders that he considers wrong.' 'Can he be summarily thrashed at a meeting at your residence, or in his own office?' 'If AAP legitimises political violence, there are many, many, tougher political leaders elsewhere to draw the wrong lessons,' warns Shekhar Gupta.
Rebels in the Bahujan Samaj Party have attacked their party chief Mayawati for her "extortionist tendencies," with BSP's Rajya Sabha MP Jugal Kishore calling her "daulat ki beti".
Tetra Devi, the mother of Dayashankar filed a complaint against the BSP leaders for raising "derogatory" slogans at the party protest in Lucknow on Thursday.
No government bungalow in Delhi will henceforth be converted into any memorial, the Union Cabinet decided on Saturday, weeks after a row over Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Ajit Singh's demand for making his official residence a memorial of his father and former Prime Minister Charan Singh.
Rashtriya Lok Dal Ajit Singh on Friday attacked the government for rejecting his demand for converting the bungalow occupied by him into a memorial to his father, former Prime Minister Charan Singh, and blamed it for protests over the issue.
Unless Punjab has a chief minister who is able to look beyond community/vote bank politics, carry all sections of society, stop appeasing while addressing genuine concerns and break the stranglehold of the SGPC over Sikh affairs, my beloved home state is bound to die and conversions will be rampant, warns Sanjeev Nayaar.
Paswan was a minister under six different prime ministers, hardly out of government since he was first elected to the Lok Sabha in 1977, observes Virendra Kapoor.
The chief judicial magistrate in Hajipur has ordered the police to lodge a case against Shah and Singh.
The Mayawati-led BSP will fight 20 of the 117 assembly seats in Punjab, while the rest will be contested by the SAD.
'We have finished that fear.'
15 people injured; those with minor injuries were provided an immediate compensation of Rs 5,000, and one with serious injuries was given Rs 25,000.
Hitting back at Bharatiya Janata Party Chief Amit Shah after he needled her on desertions in the Bahujan Samaj Party, former chief minister Mayawati on Sunday said his "childish" remarks betrayed BJP's nervousness ahead of assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh.
In UP, the BJP focused carefully on the sub-caste divisions within the Dalits and also gave a large number of tickets to SC candidates from sub-castes.
The BJP has many ruthless leaders with super-sharp political minds. But none has all this and Yogi's charisma and personal ambition, observes Shekhar Gupta.
'There are too many competent people better suited and poised to take on Modi. The Gandhis are not among them,' argues Harishchandra.
'Whether or not Chandrashekhar Azad succeeds or fails electorally, he has already made democratic politics more accountable to Dalits.'
'Anyone can come and anyone can go.' 'There is no ideology or vision that differentiates one party from another.'
'Modi and Shah know their politics. That is why the alarmed switch to reservations, and raising the threat from 'vote bank' politics,' says Shekhar Gupta.
If the Opposition has any chance at the prime minister's job, it can happen only if they all stop dropping names and work at the grassroots-level, state-wise, suggests N Sathiya Moorthy.
Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati targeted the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government over the Central Bureau of Investigation's decision to question her on the multi-crore National Rural Health Mission scam, claiming she had no connection with it and that the Centre was misusing the agency ahead of Bihar elections for political gains.
The father-son duo had earlier moved the UP government seeking two years' time to vacate their official residences and shifting to their private accommodations in Lucknow.
BSP chief says Ambedkar talked of separate electorates for Dalits; didn't believe in Hindutva.
Traffic was thrown out of gear in the city as BSP workers, raising slogans and carrying placards, thronged the area.
Without doubt, the BJP is miles ahead in marshalling digital tools for electioneering better than any other party, observes Virendra Kapoor.
BSP boss known for her over-the-top celebrations, where crores are splurged, has decided to keep it low this year. Does Kejriwal have anything to do with this?
The Congress, out of power in Madhya Pradesh for nearly 15 years, has also expressed its willingness to align with like-minded parties to take on the BJP.
'To all those then who talk about ending Brahminical hegemony, my advice is: Get the Brahmins on your side,' says Syed Firdaus Ashraf.
Ram V Sutar, 89, has already created more than 200 distinct statues, many of them massive. Now, he is a leading contender for the commission to produce the world's largest statue: A 597-foot tall rendering of Sardar Patel, an independence leader who played a crucial role in uniting India's fractious states.
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