Attempting damage control, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday described the last year's riots in Muzzafarnagar as "unfortunate" and said his government took immediate steps to check them and there was no delay in calling the army.
'We have finished that fear.'
The young RJD leader is yet to earn the trust of the crowd and many senior party members believe he is no patch on his father.
On a visit to relief camps of riot victims in Muzaffarnagar, Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav on Sunday blamed both the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Samajwadi Party for the communal violence here even as he heaped praise on Rahul Gandhi, saying Narendra Modi and Arvind Kejriwal were nothing in front of the Congress vice-president.
Ravi Kishan, the BJP's candidate, is an outsider. The BSP-SP candidate is from the powerful Nishad community. Yogi faces a tough task in ensuring that the Gorakhpur seat, which he represented from 1998 to 2017, stays with the BJP.
After witnessing a near rout in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the ruling Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh might be facing the toughest challenge in its political history. Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, who was basking in the glory of wrestling the reigns of the state from Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati in the 2012 assembly elections, is now facing political heat in more ways than one.
BJP's overwhelming win in UP shows that 2014 was no fluke, says R Jagannathan.
Misa Bharti, Lalu Prasad Yadav's daughter, denies that she was forcibly thrust into politics. Kavita Chowdhury reports.
The party is counting on women voters and caste calculus, among others, to swing the crucial polls in its favour
The BJP wants to win a state where it has been out of power for 15 years. The Congress wants to make its mark in a state where it has been a bit player for nearly 30 years. And the BSP wants to recapture power it lost 5 years ago.
The consolidation of the Muslim vote behind Lalu Yadav in Bihar and Mulayam Singh Yadav in Uttar Pradesh may have forced Modi to spin Priyanka Gandhi's neech rajniti statement as a insult to his OBC status, says Dharmendra Singh.
Dharmendra Kumar Singh explains the importance of getting 28 percent of the vote in Uttar Pradesh, which is witnessing a five-cornered contest.
Increasingly seen as the 'bellwether' for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the assembly election results will not only decide as to who will rule UP but show which way the wind is blowing ahead of the Lok Sabha elections two years hence.
A cautious Congress has decided to adopt a wait and watch policy with regard to its choice of alliance partner in Bihar in the light of Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav's conviction in the fodder scam on Monday. Anita Katyal reports.
The BJP is of the view that Jharkhand, Bihar and Uttarakhand governments could collapse and a Modi wave may resurrect its chances, notes Archis Mohan.
Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav and his chief minister son Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday jointly sounded the party's bugle for 2014 Lok Sabha elections from this eastern Uttar Pradesh hub, ill-famed as a home and haven for several terrorists.
'If Muslims who are 20 percent of UP's population feel the SP has no future they will go with the BSP. Even if 10 percent Muslim vote goes to the BSP every equation will change.'
'Nitish Kumar's government will be at stake. The JD-U is working with a very thin majority, which is a borrowed majority. With just two seats Nitish Kumar has no moral right to stay on,' says Professor Prabhat Ghosh.
Bharatiya Janata Party senior leader Sushil Kumar Modi talks to Satyavrat Mishra about the prospects of the party in Bihar. Modi says only the assembly elections or general elections are the true barometers of popularity. Edited excerpts:
Dharmendra Kumar Singh explains the four major factors that contributed to Modi's win in the 2014 elections.
Sheela Bhatt/Rediff.com explains the compulsions that forced Bihar strongman Lalu Yadav to play second fiddle to Nitish Kumar.
BJP President Amit Shah -- arguably the second most powerful politician in the nation -- granted a rare television interview to the Network 18 group of news channels. Rediff.com's Rajesh Alva checks out what the BJP boss said in this word cloud assessment of the interview.
The 'secularists'are more adept at the politics of intense and alarmingly exaggerated fear-mongering, as this kind of politics provides easy votes of Muslims without making them answerable for the concrete issues of poverty, unemployment, lawlessness, and of basic needs like roads, electricity, etc, which is exactly how Nitish Kumar was defeated in the elections, says Mohammad Sajjad.
