Electoral setbacks and thwarted ambition can have an unpredictable effect on leaders,, observes Aditi Phadnis.
A day after the apex court ordered a CBI inquiry into alleged rape of a girl by Banda Bahujan Samaj Party MLA, Mayawati government in Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday recommended handing over to the agency the sensational Lakhimpur case in which body of a 14-year-old girl was found hanging from a tree in a police station.
Uttar Pradesh Cabinet Secretary Shashank Shekhar Singh on Monday refuted certain claims made by WikiLeaks with respect to his conversation with former United States Charge d'Affairs Peter Burleigh.
It dismissed a petition filed by the UP government challenging an Allahabad high court order staying investigations into cases against him.
The former chief minister said she would concentrate of development and law and order.
While Monday's Supreme Court order reinstating 18,000 dismissed Uttar Pradesh policemen came as a bolt from the blue for Chief Minister Mayawati, it has left her predecessor and Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav all pepped up as the recruitments were made during his regime.
The Uttar Pradesh government, which had made budgetary allocation of crores of rupees for installation of statues of Chief Minister Mayawati and her mentor Kanshi Ram in the state, has said it is a wrong notion that only statues of dead persons can be installed.
Unless Punjab has a chief minister who is able to look beyond community/vote bank politics, carry all sections of society, stop appeasing while addressing genuine concerns and break the stranglehold of the SGPC over Sikh affairs, my beloved home state is bound to die and conversions will be rampant, warns Sanjeev Nayaar.
Rahul Gandhi was arrested on Wednesday night by the Uttar Pradesh police after he joined the land war here, pledging full support to farmers fighting against acquisition while lambasting Chief Minister Mayawati.
Has Sonia Gandhi's midnight decision to give the go-ahead to Telangana torpedoed Rahul Gandhi's UP Mission 2012? Some Congress leaders in Uttar Pradesh think after Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister stole the thunder by seeking Uttar Pradesh's bifurcation.
The demolition of Sahara Shahar's illegal encroachments is symbolic. The real assault will be executed at the right psychological and emotional moment, in true Mayawati style. Make no mistake.
Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati on Friday ruled out extending any kind of support to the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance government in the event of the party coming to power after the Lok Sabha polls.
Smelling a major scam in the recent sale of four sugar mills by the Uttar Pradesh government, the Congress on Thursday accused Chief Minister Mayawati of large-scale bungling and manipulation in palming off the mills to handpicked buyers.
Claiming that the BJP's government's works in the three holy cities are only follow-ups of her government's initiatives, Mayawati went on to promise, in what is being seen as a subtle shift towards soft Hindutva ahead of the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, to complete all those work on time.
But she added that her government will be open to erecting memorials to honour leaders from 'other communities' and keep their religious sentiments in mind.
Modi was accompanied by Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri and Delhi Metro Rail Corporation chief Mangu Singh during the ride.
May Prabhu Ram give strength to his family in the hour of sadness to bear the loss. May Prabhu Ram give consolation to people in the country who believe in his values, ideals, culture and traditions," Prime Minister Narendra Modi said wile praying tribute to Kalyan Singh.
The Uttar Pradesh government has started proceedings to withdraw four cases against senior cabinet minister Mohammad Azam Khan. "The cases against Khan in 2007 appeared to be lodged with bad intentions. We have given applications in concerned courts to withdraw the cases," said Principal Secretary, Home, R M Srivastava.
Holding non-Congress governments responsible for lack of development in Uttar Pradesh in the last 22 years, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday said only Congress, led by Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, can change this "bad situation" and provide good governance in the state.
With two more phases to go in the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, Chief Minister Mayawati is confident of returning to power. "We would do better than the 2007 elections," said a beaming 'Behenji' after she cast her vote in Lucknow in the fourth phase of the elections on Sunday.
Defying Maharashtra government's order asking him not to make provocative speeches, Raj, addressing a rally in Thane, spewed venom against North Indians justified his agitation against them who he said encroached on job prospects of locals in Maharashtra. He said it would not be possible for him to abide by the government's gag order and he cannot be a 'mute spectator when interests of Maharashtra are at stake'.
Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati dismissed as "drama" Samajwadi Party's demand for special category status for Uttar Pradesh, saying they are raising the issue with an eye on the forthcoming general elections.
In a veiled reference to reports that Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi had rescued 15,000 Gujaratis from Uttarakhand, former Uttar Pradesh CM Mayawati on Sunday said the Bahujan Samaj Party condemns a political party whose leader seeks to become a prime ministerial candidate but talks about saving people only from his own state.
Talking to reporters in Lucknow on the sidelines of a workshop for Pradesh Congress Committee members, Jaiswal said the UP government had complained that in certain states the laid down security procedures were not being followed for the protection of Mayawati.
The National Election Watch has put out a report pertaining the chief ministers of the five states going to polls -- Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur.
The Uttar Pradesh Engineers Association on Friday postponed their state-wide strike in protest against the murder of senior engineer M K Gupta allegedly by a Bahujan Samaj Party legislator after Public Works Department Minister Naseemuddin Siddiqui assured them of stern action.
There was more to him than he let on, asserts Aditi Phadnis.
The ruling Bahujan Samaj Party has finalised its list of candidates for a number of places for the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections slated to be held in 2012.
The BSP supremo is looking forward to the support of Dalits and Muslims to seize the throne in Lucknow, writes Amit Shankar.
BSP candidate Virendra Singh defeated SP's Anil Rajbhar, son of Ramjit Rajbhar, whose death necessitated the bypoll, by 3,510 votes.
In a significant move, Uttar Pradesh's most powerful bureaucrat Shashank Shekhar Singh relinquished his power on Saturday.
The 85-year-old was admitted to the hospital on June 11 with breathing problems, fever and difficulty in urination.
He is the fourth chief minister from the saffron party to head the northern state. Before Adityanath, Kalyan Singh, Ram Prakash Gupta and Rajnath Singh of the BJP had served as Uttar Pradesh chief ministers.
'If these two parties come together, there could be amalgamation of OBC, Dalits and Muslim votes.'
Bahujan Samaj Party general secretary and Uttar Pradesh Minister S C Mishra will resign from the ministry after a couple of months to focus on wooing upper castes across the country to the party ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.
Six years after she was expelled for indiscipline, firebrand leader Uma Bharti on Tuesday rejoined the Bharatiya Janata Party at a crowded press conference at the party headquarters at 11 Ashok Road on Tuesday.
The budget session of the Uttar Pradesh legislature witnessed mayhem on Tuesday with slogan shouting opposition Samajwadi Party members disrupting Governor T V Rajeshwar's speech by standing on their seats and throwing paper balls to protest against government's functioning.
The Supreme Court on Friday restrained the Uttar Pradesh government from carrying out building and construction activities for the installation of statues and memorials of Dalit icons, including Chief Minister Mayawati, at a park in Noida adjacent to the national capital.
"We have not received any letter from Bachchan. When he is not the owner of the land (in Barabanki), how can he donate it," Mayawati remarked at a press conference in New Delhi.
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