In a major jolt to the ruling Bahujan Samaj Party, its national general secretary Naresh Agarwal and two sitting legislators from Hardoi joined the Samajwadi Party on Friday. "I am resigning from the Rajya Sabha and the post of BSP national general secretary," Agarwal said while addressing a gathering at a function at the SP headquarters in Lucknow. Besides Naresh, his son Nitin Agarwal and Rajeshwari -- both BSP MLAs from Hardoi -- also joined the SP.
According to insiders, their lack of enthusiasm is showing on the ground. There is nothing to suggest that their enthusiasm will return in the final four phases of polling, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
He also said there are leaders who stand firm in their ideology but their number is gradually declining.
MP-MLA court magistrate Shobit Bansal awarded the three the maximum seven-year sentence.
The sources said the opposition leaders would now plan joint rallies that were put on hold due to the assembly elections.
That will be the last pound of flesh Mulayam Singh and Amar Singh wish to extract for the support they are giving the dying Congress party. Fortuitously, the Congress too wants a similar outcome.
The Congress is hopeful of soon finalising the Lok Sabha poll seat-sharing arrangements with the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) allies Aam Aadmi Party and Trinamool Congress, sources said on Friday, days after the principal opposition party arrived at an understanding with the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh.
'Nine years ago, I had met Akhilesh at a function in Mumbai. Since then, our friendship has continued.'
An eighth BJP candidate on Thursday filed his nomination for the Rajya Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh, setting the stage for a contest with the Samajwadi Party on February 27.
The ministries of coal and environment and forests are currently in the temporary charge of the prime minister and all the indications are that the current power minister, Sushil Kumar Shinde, might be moved to Maharashtra as chief minister, creating a vacancy, top sources in the government said.
Opposition parties Nationalist Congress Party and Samajwadi Party on Wednesday demanded reservation for OBCs in the women's reservation bill and questioned the reason for calling a special session when the bill cannot be implemented before census and delimitation.
However, the national party count has gone down to six from 14 in over seven decades.
Rai also asserted that the Congress will win the upcoming Assembly elections in all five states.
Amid suspense over Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA)'s prime ministerial face for the 2024 general elections, Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar on Wednesday said the 1977 Lok Sabha polls were fought by the opposition without projecting Morarji Desai as the PM candidate.
Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi, BJP chief J P Nadda and new party entrant Ashok Chavan and Union ministers Ashwini Vaishnaw and L Murugan were among the 41 candidates elected unopposed to Rajya Sabha on Tuesday while Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh will witness polling on February 27.
Sachin Ahlawat, allegedly involved in the violence in Mahav village of Bulandshahr's Sayana area after rumour of alleged cow slaughter, has been appointed BJP's 'mandal president' of BB Nagar.
According to a statement issued by JD-U national general secretary Afaq Ahmed Khan on Tuesday, this is the party's first list of candidates for Madhya Pradesh, where voting will take place for the 230-member assembly on November 17.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has announced financial assistance of Rs 2 lakh to the kin of each of the deceased and Rs 50,000 to the injured.
The SP continued silence on last week's acquittal of 16 policemen, pointedly accused of the cold-blooded murder of 42 Muslims in Meerut
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the Interim Budget on February 1 ahead of the Lok Sabha elections likely to be held in April-May.
Chastising the State Bank of India, the Supreme Court on Monday ordered it to disclose the details of the electoral bonds encashed by political parties to the Election Commission by the close of the business hours on March 12 and warned the country's largest public sector lender that the court may proceed against it for 'wilful disobedience' if it failed to comply with its directions and deadlines.
Cricketer Yusuf Pathan will contest from the Baharampur Lok Sabha seat, whereas Kirti Aazd will fight from the Bardhaman-Durgapur constituency.
With the assembly poll results in three states being a disappointment for the Congress, some rumblings have begun among the constituents of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) ahead of their meeting on December 6, with many leaders alleging that the grand old party ignored others, but was unable to win elections on its own.
Samajwadi Party member of Parliament Shailendra Kumar, two members of Legislative Assembly including Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiya, and a member of Legislative Council were on Sunday arrested in Pratapgarh, Uttar Pradesh on charges of an attempt to murder after they allegedly threatened a candidate in local body elections, the police said.
The fraud was exposed by none other than his estranged wife who had already lodged a complaint against Majhi, who had once even managed to get a ministerial berth.
The Congress said the rally by the INDIA will send a "strong message" to the Lok Kalyan Marg, where the prime minister's residence is located, that the BJP-led government's "time is up".
Consensus emerged on the appointment of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge as the chairperson of the opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), while Janata Dal-United chief Nitish Kumar's name was proposed for the convener's post, pending approval of parties absent at the alliance meeting on Saturday, according to sources.
Prayers were performed in a cellar of the Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi on Wednesday night following court orders allowing the resumption of a practice said to have been discontinued three decades back, Kashi Vishwanath temple trust president said.
A day after the Congress reached out to Mulayam Singh Yadav seeking support for passage of the Food Security Bill, the Samajwadi Party on Tuesday decided to support the legislation but will move amendments seeking to give farmers their due for crops and giving more grains per person.
'The tragedy with Indian Muslims is that they do politics from the heart, not from the head.'
Shah on Sunday tweeted a picture of their meeting and welcomed the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party leader to the NDA.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party won the mayoral elections in 10 of the 17 municipal corporations in Uttar Pradesh, results for which were announced on Saturday, virtually adding a third engine to its "double-engine" government.
The suspension of 49 Lok Sabha MPs came a day after, a total of 78 -- 33 from the Lower House and 45 from the Upper House -- lawmakers were suspended from Parliament for disrupting proceedings.
While some parties including the Trinamool Congress, the Aam Aadmi Party and the Samajwadi Party were keen on having early seat-sharing talks, the Congress delayed the deliberations pending the outcome of assembly polls.
'What should surprise BJP supporters is Modi's call for 'stability' at the manifesto launch, a theme that he and his team members had not touched ahead of the Lok Sabha polls in 2014 and 2019.' 'The last time the party called for 'stability at the Centre' was in 1998 and 1999,' recalls N Sathiya Moorthy.
Its three MLAs will raise the SP's tally in the 403-member UP assembly to 190.
'His way of communication is different than the first yatra.' 'Maybe his anger and frustration stems from the fact that no one is asking hard questions to the government and he is trying to do that.'
Income tax sleuths who reached Khan's residence on Jail Road in Rampur in Uttar Pradesh at 7 am on Wednesday completed their search Friday evening.
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