Chidambaram also stressed that there were lessons to be learnt by the Congress from the Gujarat loss, saying there is no such thing as a "silent" campaign in a hard-fought election.
As Congress and Samajwadi Party finalise an electoral alliance in Uttar Pradesh ahead of Lok Sabha polls, it could be a difficult task for both of them to decide candidates on over half a dozen constituencies in which they had a tough contest in 2004 general elections.
Dynasties rule: A look at some children who have won in Election 2009.
In an apparent reference to Salim Shervani and rebel SP Member of Parliament Shafiq-ur-Rehman Barq, SP general secretary Amar Singh said, "They have suddenly realised the virtue of opposing Kalyan Singh after being denied nomination for Lok Sabha elections."
The decision to field the party chief from two constituencies taken by the SP Parliamentary Board
Didi embarks on her new mission: To unite the Opposition to take on Modi in the Lok Sabha elections of 2024, observes Payal Singh Mohanka.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday hailed the Union Budget as an "all-inclusive" document while the Opposition dismissed it as "anti-people" and mere rhetoric lacking the vision for creating jobs and taming inflation.
Singh has been alleging that the state government had acquired land from farmers for the Reliance Energy power project at dirt cheap prices and is leading a campaign on the issue.
Besides the SAD, the SP, the AIADMK and the TRS supported the idea; while the AAP, the TDP, the JD-S, the AIFB, the DMK, the TMC, the GFP and Left parties opposed it.
"Mayawati had sent offers to me to join BSP and threatened that otherwise I will be left doing rounds of courts and made to languish in jail," he told reporters in Lucknow. The SP general secretary also alleged that independent MLA Mukhtar Ansari, accused in Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Krishnand Rai murder case, and BSP MP Akbar Ahmad Dampi conspired to kill him during the recently-held Lok Sabha bypolls in UP.
The Samajwadi Party on Friday termed its decision to support the government at the Centre, during last year's trust vote over the India-United States civil nuclear agreement, as a 'historical blunder'. On whether the Congress has betrayed his party, he said, "I don't want to use such strong words against the Congress, but we are disenchanted with it".Singh said he had received a lot of flak within his party for supporting the United Progressive Allaince.
Samajwadi Party on Tuesday said that Kamal Farooqi has been expelled from the party and asked TV channels not to use the party's name while inviting him for debates.
The number of policemen injured in them was 1,443 and 13 were killed, the data showed.
Gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmad's son Asad, wanted in the Umesh Pal murder case, was killed in an encounter with the Uttar Pradesh police in Jhansi on Thursday, officials said.
While his main attack was on eminent veteran lawyer Shanti Bhushan and his activist son Prashant Bhushan -- both of whom are members of the Lokpal Bill draft committee -- he also trained his guns on Karnataka Lokayukta and former Supreme Court Judge Santosh Hegde and Magsaysay awardee Arvind Kejriwal.
In a dramatic turn of events, Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist Centre chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' was appointed as the new prime minister of Nepal by President Bidya Devi Bhandari on Sunday.
The Allahabad High Court on Wednesday ordered the cancellation of the appointment of controversial Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission chairman Anil Yadav, who was accused of turning the state's highest recruitment body into a private fiefdom by handpicking largely Yadavs for all top jobs.
While Paswan and Singh were stopped at the Delhi-UP border, the LJP chief's younger brother and Lok Sabha member Ramchandra Paswan was taken into custody by the Uttar Pradesh Police. The leaders were going towards Greater Noida to disburse Rs two lakh as relief to the families of the victims of police firing last week.
Psephologist Sandeep Shastri explains to Vicky Nanjappa/Rediff.com how Narendra Modi scripted the BJP's triumph.
Rampant corruption in the Uttar Pradesh police is an open secret. But how blatant it has become has been spelt out by none other than widely known ruling Samajwadi Party Member of Legislative Assembly Ravidas Mehrotra.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday joined senior Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh leaders for lunch at the home of Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, as the ruling party geared up for the assembly polls just months away.
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.
The girl and her family are alleged to be "untraceable" ever since they called on Rahul during one of his visit to his parliamentary constituency, Amethi on December 13, 2006.
During her campaigning, Priyanka halted at a village in the parliamentary constituency represented by her mother Sonia Gandhi and sat down with some snake charmers.
Following a security breach during Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi's earlier visit to Uttar Pradesh, close to a hundred policemen and a vehicle armed against riots escorted him when he arrived in Lucknow on Tuesday on a two-day visit.The Centre has sought a report from the Uttar Pradesh government on the reported security breach of Rahul Gandhi during his recent visit to Allahabad.
'To summarise, PM Modi's failures in the last nine years can be categorised under 'durniti' (bad policies), 'anyay' (injustice) and - perhaps most importantly - 'badniyat' (ill intention)'
Tharoor said Rahul Gandhi's disqualification from Lok Sabha following his conviction in a 2019 defamation case has generated a 'surprising wave of Opposition unity' with many parties having begun to feel the truth of the adage -- united we stand, divided we fall.
Angry with the Congress for unilaterally announcing 24 candidates in Uttar Pradesh for the Lok Sabha polls, the Samajwadi Party on Friday declared that its alliance with that party was "broken".
Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra Wednesday met the family members of farmers killed in the violence in Lakhimpur Kheri and promised them all assistance.
Cracks were visible in the Opposition unity ahead of Tuesday's meeting convened by Congress to ramp up attack on demonetisation and alleged "personal corruption" of the prime minister, with Left parties and the Janata Dal-United unlikely to attend it.
Under fire from different quarters over the tie-up with Kalyan Singh, the Samajwadi Party today accused certain Congress leaders of "fanning" the issue, but made it clear that it would not break the alliance with the grand old party.
The leaders attacked the BJP, accusing it of trying to create "Hindu-Muslim disturbances" to benefit politically and making false claims and promises.
Uttar Pradesh Chief minister and Samajwadi Party boss Mulayam Singh Yadav on Saturday said noted actress Jaya Bachchan will be one his party candidates for the Rajya Sabha election.
A day after Kalyan Singh quit the Bharatiya Janata Party, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and general secretary Amar Singh met him amid indications that they may reach a political understanding ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.
Asked about other SP leaders' "unhappiness" with Amar Singh, Shivpal said, "Taking everyone along makes an organisation stronger. There are all kinds of people in a party. One has to apply his mind also."
Less than half the ministers in Team Yogi are not long-term BJP members. Many old-timers have been dropped.
The Congress seems to have decisively shut its doors for Amar Singh, who was expelled by the Samajwadi Party on Tuesday along with Lok Sabha Member of Parliament Jaya Prada."The Congress is not a dustbin," shot back All India Congress Committee functionary Satyavrat Chaturvedi, when queried about the possibility of Singh joining Congress.Chaturvedi's hard-hitting comment isn't his first against Singh.
A departmental inquiry has also been ordered against the judge.
The Congress on Sunday said it will give a "good fight" to Bharatiya Janata Party leader Narendra Modi on Varanasi seat and did not rule out fielding an outsider.
Comedian Raju Srivastava on Tuesday pointedly blamed the top Samajwadi Party leadership for his sudden decision to walk out of the contest for the prestigious Kanpur Lok Sabha seat.
