Patel, 71, the quintessential backroom strategist for the Congress, died at a Gurugram hospital in the early hours of Wednesday due to multiple organ failure more than a month after he tested positive for COVID-19.
Another cabinet minister of the Mayawati government has come under the scanner of the Uttar Pradesh Lokayukta for alleged misuse of office.
The budget session of the Uttar Pradesh legislature witnessed mayhem on Tuesday with slogan shouting opposition Samajwadi Party members disrupting Governor T V Rajeshwar's speech by standing on their seats and throwing paper balls to protest against government's functioning.
Sonia Gandhi's iftar was meant to be a powerful show of unity of Opposition parties to take on the Modi Sarkar, but that was not to be...
SP leaders could be behind the sting operation: Mayawati
The Uttar Pradesh Congress on Thursday morning handed over a letter to Governor T V Rajeswar withdrawing support to the three-year-old Mulayam Singh Yadav government.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav has claimed that an alleged financial fraud to the tune of Rs 40,000 crore could emerge in the installation of statues of elephants and memorials by the previous Mayawati government in the state. Akhilesh made the claim a day after a search was carried out by the police at the office of Rajkiya Nirman Nigam in Gomti Nagar for alleged irregularities in erection of statues of elephants at parks in Lucknow and Noida.
Those disqualified by Speaker Somnath Chatterjee are Bhalchandra Yadav (Khalilabad), Ramakant Yadav (Azamgarh) and Mohammad Shahid Akhlaque and their seats in the House have been declared vacant. Petitions for their disqualification were filed by the BSP under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution (anti-defection law) on the ground that the three MPs had voluntarily given up the membership of their party and joined the Samajwadi Party.
Reaching out to the ruling party in Uttar Pradesh, which has 17 MPs in the Lok Sabha, Communist Party of India-Marxist General Secretary Prakash Karat drove to the Uttar Pradesh chief minister's residence in New Delhi to hold the first meeting after the Left parties withdrew support to the United Progressive Alliance government over the nuclear deal.
The BJP ally Nishad Party, which represents the OBC fisher communities "welcomed" the court order, saying that the state government's previous notifications on the issue were flawed and "unconstitutional".
While Noida and Greater Noida, next to Delhi, had gained in prominence under Mayawati as the Uttar Pradesh chief minister, Lucknow would get the same treatment now, experts said after the results to the five state elections were announced.
Flaying the Mayawati government's decision to dedicate schemes worth Rs 7000 crore to the Bahujan Samaj Party founder Kanshi Ram, Samajwadi Party on Wednesday questioned the late Dalit leader's contribution to Uttar Pradesh and termed it as an attempt to 'Kanshimarise' state capital Lucknow.
Nearly 137 public meetings in UP...
Shahid Siddiqui, who defected from the Samajwadi Party, sang a different tune two days ago when he defended the nuclear deal in an exclusive interview with rediff.com
Addressing an election meeting, Amar Singh charged Mulayam with giving protection to the corrupt and criminals and said that Yadav's cycle, SP's poll symbol, "had two wheels (Mualyam and Amar Singh) of which one has been removed and with one wheel left it would only grace a circus after the polls".
The alleged house arrest of Mulayam Singh Yadav by the Mayawati government in Uttar Pradesh generated heat in the Lok Sabha on Monday with Samajwadi Party members disrupting proceedings leading to two adjournments.
In his address to the joint sitting of the state legislature, Rajeswar, while outlining the priorities of Mayawati government, said that an atomosphere of "anarchy" prevailed in UP during the last four years.
Before pedalling down the streets of the state capital, Yadav told mediapersons at the party headquarters that the BJP government has "failed" in Covid management.
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has said she is not the only face of the party for Uttar Pradesh assembly polls and her remarks at a press conference on Friday about being the face of the party were made in a 'slight exaggerated way' in response to repeated queries from the media on the issue.
The Uttar Pradesh police have arrested Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, who was leading a protest in Lucknow against price rise.The police also baton charged the Samajwadi supporters, who had turned up in large numbers to accompany their chief.
In the backdrop of the hype over Mulayam Singh Yadav attending UPA's anniversary dinner, his Samajwadi Party sought to downplay it and went on to attack the Centre over 2G and other scams.
As the street battle erupted, Mulayam Singh Yadav and Chief Minister Mayawati traded charges with the SP chief accusing the police of targeting his party workers at her behest and the BSP supremo charging SP with fomenting trouble in league with criminals.
'Our leader is Modi and everyone has been saying Modi hai to desh hai'
She has all the charisma sentimental Indian voters look for in a popular leader. Priyanka can try and mobilise the youth, cutting across caste lines.
Reacting to Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav's apology to Muslims for tying up with those responsible for Babri demolition, his political rivals on Thursday termed it opportunism and a gimmick to gain mileage ahead of the next assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh.
Samajwadi Party on Thursday accused the Uttar Pradesh government of using dirty drain water to disperse protesting SP workers during the Bharat bandh on Monday.
Campaigning came to an end on Saturday for the single-day election in Uttarakhand and Goa, two states known for political volatility where the Bharatiya Janata Party is attempting to retain power, and for the second phase of assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh on February 14.
In a sensational turn of events which could seriously affect the United Progressive Alliance's chances in the July 22 trust vote, Samajwadi Party Rajya Sabha MP Shahid Siddiqui, a close aide of Mulayam Singh and Amar Singh, has quit and joined the Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party.
'If there is any possibility, then the BJP has to accept our conditions. There should be caste census in the country, the report of the social justice committee should be implemented, the CM should be from backward caste and also the poor must be provided a uniform, mandatory and free education as well as free medical treatment.'
'Today in Uttar Pradesh all big parties like Samajwadi Party, BJP or even Bahujan Samaj Party are out to woo smaller parties as they know the Hindu votes are getting divided.'
R K Singh Patel, a sitting MLA from Chitrakoot-Karvi, joined SP in the presence of state PWD Minister Shivpal Singh Yadav.
No one will want President's rule imposed in the state and the BJP run the government through the remote control.
His outburst came a day after UP Governor Ram Naik asked the state government to take action over the reported damage to the bungalow vacated by the former chief minister, calling it a serious matter involving the taxpayer's money.
With the 2012 state assembly elections not very far, the Samajwadi Party has got into the election gear. And to top it all, SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav has pushed his son Akhilesh Yadav to take the lead.
The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) defeat in the Bhadohi Assembly by-election in Uttar Pradesh last month was a big blow. Not only was this the first major setback for the Mayawati-led BSP, but also showed the flaws in the first-Lucknow-next-stop-Delhi project.
The BSP is depending on votes from Dalits and minorities to make inroads into Congress and JD-S vote banks. The party is confident of coming in third place, saying that would be a satisfactory result for its first foray into Karnataka politics.
She accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of being 'anti-Dalit' and recalled the Una incident and the death of Dalit scholar Rohit Vemula to back her assertion.
Mulayam Singh has conspired with his 'right hand man' Atiq Ahmed, member of Parliament, to eliminate Pal, the BSP leader alleged. \n
