Trying to warm up to Mayawati, rebel Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh said on Saturday that the Bahujan Samaj Party supremo has proved herself against all odds and he can understand her "pain" when she was "humiliated" by Mulayam Singh Yadav.
Senior Samajwadi Party leader and Public Works and Irrigation Minister Shivpal Yadav on Sunday virtually declared war against the party's sworn political foe and former Chief Minister Mayawati.
Mayawati said both the BJP and the SP indulged in empty talks to win the votes of Dalits and Brahmins, but neither safeguarded their interests when in power.
Mayawati, who has raised the pitch for the dismissal of the 41-month-old government, described the move as a mark of protest against the speaker's continued recognition of the BSP's 37 defectors as members of the ruling Samajwadi Party.
Reacting to the statement, Uttar Pradesh BJP chief Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary said "insulting the Sanatan Dharma again and again" has become the habit of the Samajwadi Party and its leaders.
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.
Claiming that the BJP's government's works in the three holy cities are only follow-ups of her government's initiatives, Mayawati went on to promise, in what is being seen as a subtle shift towards soft Hindutva ahead of the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, to complete all those work on time.
SP state President Akhilesh Yadav also claimed that all sections of the society, including farmers and workers, were disappointed with the state government.
The closure of Reliance Fresh outlets in Lucknow is a boost for the Samajwadi Party.
Reacting to Yadav's statement that he wanted her to become the prime minister and that the SP had forged an alliance with the BSP for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls for this, Mayawati, in a tweet in Hindi, said, 'When the SP chief could not fulfil his own dream of becoming the chief minister (of Uttar Pradesh) even after securing the votes of Muslims and Yadavs and forming an alliance with several parties, how can he fulfil the dream of others to become the prime minister.'
The Samajwadi Party's anti-Mayawati stir turned violent on Thursday as activists went on a rampage across Uttar Pradesh burning hundreds of effigies of the chief minister.
She also accused Samajwadi Party chief Malayam Singh Yadav of trying to topple her government by buying MLAs.
Polling for the third phase of the Lok Sabha elections for 94 seats will take place today, covering 11 States and Union Territory.
Samajwadi Party Member of Parliament Jaya Bachchan on Tuesday alleged that Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati was pursuing action against her husband Amitabh Bachchan to gain cheap publicity."She (Mayawati) does so many things, she does not do things. Do journalists write about these things? But when she takes action against Amitabh Bachchan, you people write," Jaya said. Her remarks came a day after the Barabanki district authorities issued a notice to the superstar.
But she added that her government will be open to erecting memorials to honour leaders from 'other communities' and keep their religious sentiments in mind.
Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh made it amply evident in Lucknow on Monday that it was his threat to expose Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati that prompted her to sit pretty on the First Investigation Report registered in a Kanpur police station against him.
Rumours of a live power line having snapped triggered the stampede. The injured have been rushed to a local hospital, a BSP spokesperson said.
Demanding the resignation of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati over law and order situation in the state, the Samajwadi Party on Monday said she should take moral responsibility for the current situation in the state which was being called "balatkari pradesh" following a spate of rape incidents.
At a massive rally in Lucknow, the Bahujan Samaj Party supremo came down heavily on Mulayam Singh Yadav and his son -- Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh. Offering hope to the ruling coalition at the Centre she said that she is opposed to FDI in retail, but is willing to be convinced of its merits.
With the opposition led by Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav getting belligerent over the firing on farmers protesting against inadequate compensation for land acquired for the ambitious Yamuna Expressway project, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati has got into a damage control mode.
The bahujan hitai, bahujan sukhai motto was used in the press note issued by the BSP informing about the party chief Mayawati's election meetings in Nagpur (Maharashtra) on Thursday.
Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh on Thursday alleged that the government was 'hatching a conspiracy to eliminate' its top leadership, including president Mulayam Singh Yadav. "Mayawati, through the state police chief Vikram Singh and additional director general of police (law and order) Brijlal, wants to eliminate me, Mulayam, Shivpal Singh Yadav and Akhilesh Yadav," Amar claimed.
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.
Terming Narendra Modi's rally being denied in the temple town and the ensuing protests from the saffron party leaders in Varanasi as a "new drama", Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati has alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party in connivance with the Samajwadi Party was "doing" this to influence the elections on the remaining seats in the state.
The birth anniversary of Dr Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, whose political influence has surged with the passage of time, on Monday was marked by bitter trading of charges between the ruling BJP and opposition parties as they fought for his legacy.
The Samajwadi Party government in Uttar Pradesh on Monday renamed eight districts, which had been earlier named by Mayawati, leaving the Bahujan Samaj Party supremo fuming. The decision to change the names was taken at a cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav.
Violence erupted in the central Maharashtra city of Parbhani after a replica of the Constitution was vandalized. Around 50 people have been detained for the protests, while a man with mental health issues has been arrested for allegedly damaging the replica. Opposition leaders condemned the incident, calling for strict action against those responsible. The situation is under control, but tensions remain high in the city.
The race for the next state assembly in Uttar Pradesh may be largely four cornered. But it is increasingly evident that the electoral battle slated for February in the country's most populous state is bound to largely remain Mayawati vs. the rest, reports Sharat Pradhan.
Nagpur Guardian Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule said social media was used to vitiate the atmosphere, and appealed to the opposition not to politicise the matter.
Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav swore in Lucknow on Thursday that he would run his bulldozer over memorials and statues being erected by Chief Minister Mayawati, once he came back to power.
The BSP supremo also ridiculed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for "not taking cognisance" of suicides by Dalit students when his party was in power.
A deadly terror attack targeting tourists in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam on Tuesday drew strong condemnation and outrage. 26 people, including two foreigners and two locals, were killed in the attack, which is the deadliest in the Valley since the Pulwama strike in 2019. Prime Minister Narendra Modi asserted that the perpetrators will not be spared and their evil agenda will never succeed. Opposition leaders demanded accountability, claiming the government's claims of normalcy in Kashmir have fallen flat.
Targeting Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati and Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said they have "forgotten" the people after becoming big leaders and they "don't feel for them".
'The 2024 general elections proved that UP is not Gujarat.'
The Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) gave a huge blow to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance by winning 43 seats out of total 80 Lok Sabha seats of Uttar Pradesh, as per the Election Commission.
In the backdrop of the Muzaffarnagar police's order asking eateries on the Kanwar yatra route to display their owners' names, senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader and former Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Thursday said it may spread the 'disease of untouchability'.
She launched a frontal attack on her arch rival, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, and left no stone unturned to woo the state's 17 per cent Muslim electorate.
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