Uttar Pradesh Lokayukta indicted 199 government officials, including two ministers, in the Rs 1,410 cr memorial scam. However, the omission of then chief minister Mayawati from the list has raised eyebrows. Sharat Pradhan reports
Highly placed sources claimed that the chief minister's advisors managed to impress upon her that Tiwari's appointment would go well with her much-hyped 'social engineering' (building a Dalit-Brahmin axis), which was believed to have forged the Dalit woman leader to power.
A court in Pratapgarh in Uttar Pradesh on Saturday summoned actor Sanjay Dutt on April 24 in connection to the case filed against him, for his jadoo ki jhappi and pappi (magical hug and kiss) remark on Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati, during last year's Lok Sabha polls.Chief Judicial Magistrate Anirudh Kumar Tewari issued the summons for Dutt's appearance when the charge-sheet filed in the case came up before the court.
Ruling Bahujan Samaj Party leadership on Wednesday expressed pride in setting ablaze state Congress chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi's house in retaliation to her alleged derogatory remarks against Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Monday announced the state would revise the salary of an estimated 721,000 employees on the lines of the pay panel recommendations. The state commission, headed by Jagmohan Lal Bajaj, will submit a report on pay revision by December. The additional financial burden is estimated at Rs 5,189 crore (Rs 51.89 billion) per annum excluding arrears payment, which is pegged at Rs 14,775 crore (Rs 147.75 billion).
Mayawati said marvelous memorials and parks built to honour "ignored" gurus and sants born in Dalit and OBC communities are a new grand identity and tourist attractions in the state.
'Mayawati and her dedicated band of anonymous workers are already fanning out in each one of the 545 parliamentary constituencies, making rapid inroads into traditional BJP and Congress domains.'
Addressing a public event in Orai in Jalaun district, where elections are scheduled on February 20 in the third phase, she went all guns blazing against the BJP, the Congress and the SP.
Faced with one of the worst showing in the Lok Sabha polls, Bahujan Samaj Party supremo and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati on Tuesday dissolved all the committees of the party.
The National Commission for Scheduled Castes has decided to summon BKU leader Mahendra Singh Tikait for allegedly making casteist remarks against Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati at a rally in Bijnore district on March 30. The Commission had issued a notice to the BKU leader on the basis of the FIR report as the district administration failed to provide the full text of Tikait's speech.
With former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati voicing certain reservations over FDI policy in its present form, the government on Monday sought to keep the Bahujan Samaj Party in good humour by declaring its commitment to a Constitution Amendment Bill providing for promotions for SC/STs in government jobs.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday ridiculed Chief Minister Mayawati for sacking four ministers a day after the announcement of assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh, wondering why she had not acted against them earlier.
Environment Minister Naseemudin Siddiqui, a close confidant of Chief Minister Mayawati, dealt with files concerning the controversial project.
Chief Minister Mayawati at a hurriedly convened press conference said the minister was being removed "to prevent the opposition parties from taking political advantage from the case."
As if the 5000- crore allocated over the years towards Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati's dream projectsmemorials and statueswere not enough , she has raised a fresh demand for Rs. 556 crores in the Rs. 7559 crore supplementary budget tabled before the state assembly in Lucknow, on Monday. This comes in sharp contrast to the demand of a paltry Rs. 250 crores for the prevailing drought that had nearly engulfed the entire state.
Blaming the Mayawati government for the backwardness and "barren villages" in Bundelkhand, Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi on Thursday claimed that the Uttar Pradesh chief minister never visited the region to see what drought and poverty is all about. "Mayawati never went to Bundelkhand to see what drought is all about there, and what poverty is," Rahul said while addressing a public meet in Tilhar area in Shahjahanpur, UP.
According to the petitioner, Mayawati, being a school teacher, must be asked to explain how she has acquired those assets worth Rs 41 crore within 3 years.
Also killed was Dadua's right hand man Angad Patel, wanted in 75 cases. Patel carried a reward of Rs 50,000 on his head.
Wooing voters in the name of late Kanshi Ram who hailed from Punjab, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Saturday asked the electorate to give the Bahujan Samaj Party a chance to fulfil the party founder's dream to have a government in his native state.
The Uttar Pradesh government has decided to entrust the anti-dowry case registered against Arjun Singh and his family members to the CBI.
The Union government has ordered the complete withdrawal of the counter-terrorist commando force NSG from VIP security duties and handing over its nine "high-risk" VIPs to the CRPF by next month, official sources said Wednesday.
Ahead of the upcoming Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh, Chief Minister and Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati has put a new caste card into play by announcing her support to the ongoing agitation by the Jat community in the western parts of the state. Mayawati on Monday made it loud and clear that she was going to back the Jats in pushing their demand for declaring the community a backward class.
In a rebuttal to state Lokayukta's recommendation for a Central Bureau of Investigation probe against her most trusted and powerful multi-portfolio minister Naseemuddin Siddiqui, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Monday sought to point out that the nature of the charges against the minister did not merit such a probe.
Virtually driven against the wall following indictment by Uttar Pradesh Lokayukta Justice N K Mehrotra, state animal husbandry and dairy development minister Avadhpal Singh Yadav on Wednesday put in his papers, an official spokesman said in Lucknow.
Vehemently opposing the Union government's move to withdraw the reservation facility for higher positions in select elite educational institutions , the fiery dalit leader on Wednesday shot off a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh , urging him to stall a bill , proposed to be tabled before the national parliament in this regard on Thursday.
In his resignation letter addressed to BSP president Mayawati, Pandey said he has come to the conclusion that the party does not need his service as neither has he been called for meetings for a long time nor has the party leadership spoken to him.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday reserved its verdict on Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati's plea challenging a Central Bureau of Investigation probe against her in an alleged disproportionate assets case. A bench headed by P Sathasivam reserved its order after a two-hour-long hearing during which the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister attacked the CBI for "fixing" the disproportionate assets case against her, a charge refuted by the agency.
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.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati has refused to respond to the questionnaire on provisions of the Lokpal Bill, saying that seeking opinion of her party before tabling the bill in the Lok Sabha was contradictory to Parliamentary traditions.
Talking tough, Chief Election Commissioner S Y Quraishi on Wednesday said Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati should think before criticising the EC order to cover her statues and Bahujan Samaj Party's poll symbols in government parks.
Far from fulfilling his oft repeated proclamations about converting his bete noire former chief minister Mayawati's dream projects -- the multi-billion parks and memorials -- into hospitals and institutions, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav appeared to be following her very footsteps.
Advani said he had spoken to Chief Minister Mayawati and she had written a letter to him explaining her stand.
'I will make Akash join the BSP movement and give him a chance to learn,' she said in a statement.
Blaming Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati for the violence over land acquisition in Noida and adjoining areas, Samajwadi Party on Monday alleged that the Bahujan Samaj Party government had ignored farmers' interests while taking over their land.
Former Uttar Pradesh chief minister and Bahujan Samaj Party national president Mayawati Monday announced the expulsion of four party members of Parliament, including three who were caught on camera in the cash-for-query scam.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Friday charged the Centre of attempting to clamp central rule in Bundelkhand region that is spread across parts of UP and Madhya Pradesh.Close on the heels of the letter that she sent to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday, Mayawati shot off yet another letter one Friday, saying, "The reported creation of an independent Bundelkhand Development Authority appears to be an attempt by government to impose central rule.
It is now clear that under the present Chief Election Commissioner, Lok Sabha polls are not being held in a totally free and fair manner, she said.