Dozens of statues of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati and numerous that of elephants (which also happens to be ruling Bahujan Samaj Party's election symbol) in and around parks and memorials built by her in Lucknow and Noida were being hurriedly veiled from Monday morning by officials in pursuance of the Election Commission's order.
In a surprise move, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati sacked two more of her ministers on Wednesday evening, taking the number of dropped ministers over the past two months to six.
The Election Commission on Saturday asked the Uttar Pradesh government to uncover statues of Chief Minister Mayawati and of elephants, the Bahujan Samaj Party's poll symbol, in the state. "The EC secretary has written a letter to the UP chief secretary stating that the statues draped following its January 7 order should be uncovered forthwith," said UP Chief Electoral Officer Umesh Sinha.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Friday said all major decisions of the previous Mulayam Singh government, including Reliance Energy's Dadri power project, would be reviewed.
A high level committee had found the lapses and hence the government has decided to recommend the irregularities to the Centre.
According to party sources, one of the main reasons for her confidence is that she distributed tickets on merit basis, reports Onkar Singh
Mayawati thinks she has a winner if a candidate can bring in votes from his own caste to go with her Schedule Caste vote bank.
We had asked our readers to share their views and reactions to the Election Commission's recent directive to the Uttar Pradesh government. The EC had asked the state administration to cover all statues of Chief Minister Mayawati and elephants -- the symbol of Bahujan Samaj Party -- across the state. Here are some responses by our readers:
The Supreme Court on Monday rejected Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati's plea for quashing a PIL filed against her in the Taj corridor scandal which involved construction of a massive shopping mall and recreational centres near the world famous monument.
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.
A day after the Uttar Pradesh Lokayukta recommended his dismissal on charges of owning disproportionate assets, Chief Minister Mayawati on Wednesday sacked Secondary Education Minister Rangnath Misra and Labour Minister Badshah Singh, who too is under the scanner of the anti-graft ombudsmen. Cracking the whip, the chief minister has also ordered a vigilance inquiry against the two ministers. Both the ministers have been asked to fight the graft cases in court.
After the 1,200-acre special economic zone at Noida and the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group's gas-based power plant at Dadri, Lanco Kundapalli's 1,000-Mw Anpara C power project in Sonebhadra district of Uttar Pradesh has come under the scanner
Recently, the Uttar Pradesh chief minister had managed to split the Congress.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, Mayawati, on Wednesday announced a financial assistance of Rs 5 crore for the national hockey players and also offered to sponsor the team for the next two years.
Last week, a panel of judges headed by the Chief Justice of India ordered that Karnan be transferred to the Calcutta high court. The junior judge reacted that he would fight the order and asked the Chief Justice of India to "not interfere" with his jurisdiction, and also stayed his own transfer order.
Police on Wednesday arrested a man accused of urinating on a tribal youth in Madhya Pradesh's Sidhi district, an official 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.
Favouring reservation for Muslims, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Sunday said that 27 per cent Other Backward Class quota should be increased by making constitutional amendment to include backward Muslims in it. "The Bahujan Samaj Party government favours quota for Muslims. The Centre should amend the constitution and increase 27 per cent quota of OBCs to include muslims in it. Our party will support it," Mayawati said addressing a rally in Lucknow.
If the party's members aren't sure what it stands for, see no path to wealth or power, and endure control by a dynasty, which, almighty as it is within the party, cannot get them the votes, they are likely to explore options, notes Shekhar Gupta.
Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav announced a state-wide 'jail bharo' agitation on Wednesday against Mayawati government in Uttar Pradesh and asked the Centre to "mend" its policies, but was silent on the issue of withdrawing support from the Congress-led UPA. "The 'jail bharo' agitation will not be symbolic. You all will have to go to jail...I will court arrest in Lucknow," Yadav said at the inaugural session of the party's Special National Conference in Agra.
The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court on Tuesday ordered the detention and arrest of Uttar Pradesh Principal Home Secretary R M Srivastava for not complying with a court order for providing special security to a former minister in the Mayawati government.
In a quiet move, the Mayawati government has decided to give away bulk of its hotels and tourist bungalows on long-term lease to private players.
Under attack by the opposition over rape incidents in Uttar Pradesh, Chief Minister Mayawati has called a high-level meet of state officials on June 27 and also announced amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code for harsher provisions for the guilty.
Its passage, argues Sharat Pradhan, will only give rise to more bitterness and sharper social conflict, overcoming which might be easier said than done.
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.
Poll-bound Delhi will witness star-studded election rallies on Sunday, organised by the Bharatiya Janata Party's ally Shiromani Akali Dal, the Congress and the Bahujan Samaj Party, which are trying their best to ensure impressive turnouts.Congress president Sonia Gandhi will sound the election bugle from Mangolpuri in outer Delhi while Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and BSP chief Mayawati will address a rally in Trilokpuri in east Delhi.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar is a "senior leader and MLA of the party", Supriya Sule said on Thursday when asked about the status of the former in the Nationalist Congress Party.
CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat on Wednesday met BSP supremo and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati at her official residence in Lucknow and is understood to have discussed the country's political situation with her.
The Enforcement Directorate on Monday detected cash deposits totalling over Rs.104 crore in an account belonging to the Bahujan Samaj Party and Rs 1.43 crore in an account belonging to party Supremo Mayawati's brother Anand in a branch of United Bank of India in New Delhi, sources in the Enforcement Directorate said.
The prisons department had on Thursday issued an order for the premature release of Amarmani Tripathi, citing the state's 2018 policy on remission, since they have completed 16 years of imprisonment.
After blaming the Centre for the drought as well as the floods in the state, the Mayawati-led Uttar Pradesh government has now held the United Progressive Alliance-led government responsible for the spread of various diseases in the state.UP Health Minister Anant Kumar Misra on Tuesday blamed the Centre for the spread of encephalitis, malaria, measles and other vector-borne diseases, which were threatening to turn into an epidemic.
The Central Bureau of Investigation has decided not to challenge the Supreme Court orders, through a review petition, quashing the alleged disproportionate assets case against former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati.
Unfazed by the failure of efforts to pull down the United Progressive Alliance government that may have pitchforked her into national centrestage, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Saturday said that nobody could stop her from becoming prime minister.
Reacting sharply to the political and economic resolutions passed in the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee convention at Kanpur, she said the Centre has not taken any decision regarding the Rs 80,000 crore package demanded for removal of economic backwardness of the Purvanchal and Bundelkhand areas of the state. "It shows how Congress was serious regarding the problems of the state," she said.
Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati on Sunday said that her party has given maximum number of tickets to Muslims and they should vote unitedly in favour of her party to save the country from the "fascist forces and dynasty rule".
Umesh Pal's family thanked Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and the police.
Balwinder Singh alleged that no relative, including Ram's mother, was being allowed to meet the former party chief.
