'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.
Newly appointed Union civil aviation minister and Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Ajit Singh on Sunday said his alliance with the Congress has now provided a "clear-cut alternative" to the people of Uttar Pradesh against the "oppressive" Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party government.
The BSP supremo is looking forward to the support of Dalits and Muslims to seize the throne in Lucknow, writes Amit Shankar.
The Janata Dal-United on Tuesday became the third major ally after the Shiv Sena and the Akali Dal to snap ties with the Bharatiya Janata Party after 2019.
To a question on whether deciding against contesting in the constituency would send a wrong signal, she said, "No I don't think so... I had said from the start that I will do what my party says...my party decided this and I am happy to follow the instructions."
A sizeable number of MLAs from across state assemblies cross-voted in support of President-elect Droupadi Murmu, defying their parties' stated support to Opposition candidate Yashwant Sinha, sources said on Thursday.
The Janata Dal-United will contest all 403 assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh, party chief Sharad Yadav said on Wednesday after failure of talks with National Democratic Alliance ally Bharatiya Janata Party for a tie-up.
In the coming days, unless Modi tones down the communal spiel, it will be clear that anxiety continues to drive his mind and clouds his judgment, observes Modi biographer Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
Azad said the Bhim Army will run parallel to the party and continue to fight for Dalit rights and enrol new members.
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.
Chandrashekhar said he would ensure that PM Modi is not re-elected to the Lok Sabha from Varanasi.
"We got a lot of confidence from our success in Bihar, and we will continue that momentum," Owaisi told reporters after their meeting in Lucknow.
The country now has six national parties - Bharatiya Janata Party, Congress, Bahujan Samaj Party, Communist Party of India-Marxist, NPP and AAP.
The Samajwadi Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party appeared to take early leads in Uttar Pradesh where counting of votes began after a seven-phased elections concluded on Saturday.
'Prime Minister Modi doesn't talk to me. He meets and says in monosyllables'
Never before has the BJP faced such a crisis over the nomination of the Chief Minister as it is facing now, discovers Prakash Bhandari, veteran observer of Rajasthan politics.
He also hit out at Akhilesh Yadav, saying the UP chief minister is neither with Backward Classes nor Dalits.
In this COVID-19 phase, the BJP leveraged its pre-eminence again to tip the power scales in its favour and relegate its allies in the National Democratic Alliance to a lesser position. Radhika Ramaseshan reports.
Atique Ahmed is one of the most feared dons of Uttar Pradesh today. There was another don who preceded Atique and had he survived, Atique wouldn't have been around today, recalls Sudhir Bisht.
"All you have to do is to put the picture of (UP Chief Minister) Yogi (Adityanath) in front of you and Priyanka Gandhi's picture and you won't need to ask any more questions," said Khurshid, who is the chief of the party's manifesto committee for the state.
What some of our leaders were up to over the weekend.
The Congress is of the view that firming up of proper opposition alliances in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Maharashtra is crucial.
Prashant Kishor expressed the view that the recent 'chintan shivir' could not achieve "anything meaningful".
Asked about BJP's Gorakhpur (Urban) MLA Aggarwal, the Samajwadi Party chief told reporters in Lucknow, "If you (reporters) can establish contact with him and speak to him, the ticket will be announced and he will get the ticket."
This came amid the buzz of an imminent reshuffle in the Union Cabinet.
The meeting, which lasted for over four hours, was attended by chief ministers and deputy chief ministers of 18 states.
The Congress is all set to fire the first major salvo against Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati when Rahul Gandhi flags off 10 simultaneous yatras on April 14, which would cover the entire state and carry the message of the Congress and the United Progressive Alliance's achievements and mark the 20 years which the state of Uttar Pradesh has "existed" without Congress rule.
'Congress and BSP are in the fray, but not in the contest.'
Western UP contributes nearly 70 seats to the 402-member UP assembly. In 2017, the BJP had swept the region. Every pre-2022 poll survey had suggested the party would face its biggest attrition from this region because of the farmers' groups.
The Uddhav Thackeray-led party was told that the MNS and the NCP are not politically untouchables for the BJP
The prime minister also said if there is a 'kabaristaan' (graveyard), there should be a 'shamshaan' (cremation ground) too.
Gandhi met Pawar within hours of the BJP's defeat in the Gorakhpur and Phulpur Lok Sabha bypolls in Uttar Pradesh.
The Bharatiya Janata Party-backed Samajwadi Party rebel candidate Nitin Agarwal was elected deputy speaker of the Uttar Pradesh assembly on Monday, defeating Narendra Verma, the official candidate of Akhilesh Yadav's party, by 244 votes.
The Bharatiya Janata Party leaders on Saturday credited 'Modi wave' for the party's stong showing in the high stakes Uttar Pradesh elections.
Senior state leaders of the two parties pointed to propping up of the "new set of leaders not having much political stature" and lack of communication for the failure to reconcile differences.
He said the Congress party might give a surprise or two in the Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh 'about what the party is capable of doing and to mobilise people'.
Yadav fought hard, but his party was well behind the BJP.
'When the assembly elections happened in West Bengal, it was predicted that Mamata didi will win only by a thin margin but she won with a huge margin'
Yadav denied any possibility for a post-poll alliance between the BJP and the Rashtriya Lok Dal's Jayant Choudhary.
Political strategist Prashant Kishor, who played a key role in victories of Narendra Modi-led BJP in general elections and the Janata Dal-United-Rashtriya Janata Dal-Congress alliance in Bihar, on Wednesday attended a meeting with Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi to craft the party's strategy for Uttar Pradesh polls.
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