The Central Bureau of Investigation on Thursday registered a case against Bahujan Samaj Party member of Parliament Purushottam Dwivedi and four others in the alleged rape of a minor Dalit girl in Banda district of Uttar Pradesh in December last year.
The party released its manifesto -- Samajwadi Vachan Patra -- for the coming assembly elections, shortly after the BJP released its own.
Shops, schools and other commercial establishments were closed in parts of Bihar, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab but the shutdown call by anti-reservation bodies had little impact elsewhere in the country.
Here are some of the political leaders' who await their fate.
The poll results will depend much on whether the caste and community coalition worked out by Akhilesh can withstand the onslaught of the Hindutva forces who have increased their efforts to polarise the electorate on communal lines.
Even as the UPA is struggling for credibility and ways to fight corruption, the BJP is merely waiting in the wings hoping to earn votes by default. But that is not likely to happen, says Sheela Bhatt.
'The central BJP has worked out an arrangement -- Yogi manages the state while Modi manages the Centre.'
BKU (Bhanu) president Thakur Bhanu Pratap Singh told reporters he was deeply pained by whatever happened during the tractor parade in Delhi on Republic Day.
In the name of development, Chief Minister Mayawati can only boast of statues of herself or Dalit icons across Uttar Pradesh, but the common man in the state who is yet to savour the pleasure of having basic civic amenities, will most naturally think for whom he or she should vote for, or may even opt for a total Bahujan Samaj Party poll boycott.
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.
'These guys who are running away -- they are running away from all that the BJP stands for.'
Revamping the Youth Congress and building the party at the grassroots level are positives in Rahul Gandhi's political graph. But on more serious issues facing the country and on foreign policy, his views and leanings are almost unknown. He needs more perspective and experience before he moves on to bigger things.
Hitting back at Bharatiya Janata Party Chief Amit Shah after he needled her on desertions in the Bahujan Samaj Party, former chief minister Mayawati on Sunday said his "childish" remarks betrayed BJP's nervousness ahead of assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Friday declared that the legal proceedings against state Congress Committee president Rita Bahuguna Joshi, who was arrested on Wednesday night for allegedly making inflammatory comments against the Bahujan Samaj Party chief, would continue."Even if Joshi manages to get bail like Varun Gandhi (who is facing charges under the National Security Act clamped by the UP police), her crime cannot be forgiven," said the UP CM.
Speaking after dedicating over 15 memorials, including the statues of BSP founder Kanshi Ram along with those of her, Mayawati, who had recently made controversial remarks about Mahatma Gandhi, said 'the total costs incurred in building these monuments is much less than the total value of land at Rajghat', the memorial in Delhi for the Father of The Nation.
Muslims have been given tickets in 36 of the 100 seats.
The Supreme Court on Thursday sought a response from the Uttar Pradesh government and the Central Bureau of Investigation on a plea for a judicial probe into the alleged rape of a Dalit girl by Banda legislator Purushottam Naresh Dwivedi.
In a morale booster to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati's pet project, the Supreme Court on Friday upheld environmental compatibility of the Noida park scheme, also being developed into a memorial for Dalit icon B R Ambedkar and her political mentor late Kanshi Ram.
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.
Loss of power in Bihar has upset the Bharatiya Janata Party's calculations for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls but a section of its leaders also see a chance for the party to break the dominance of regional parties in the state, like it has in Uttar Pradesh.
Faceless Ambedkarite groups from across the country are running BSP's election war rooms, writes Archis Mohan.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Saturday accused Mahatma Gandhi of dividing the country on caste lines and coining "an uncontitutional term" to denote Dalits.
The BJP campaign highlighted Yogi's persona as a tough-as-nails leader and an incorruptible man with no nest to feather; Modi's charisma which was turned on full blast in the penultimate phases; Amit Shah's ground work; a well-oiled party organisation, and the RSS's back-up.
During a session titled 'Sustaining Democracy; Nurturing Democracy', he claimed that tightening the already stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) in a way that kept people like Siddique Kappan in jail for two years without bail is one of the many ways the current dispensation has 'managed to depart from the democratic spirit of the Constitution'.
The Mayawati government in Uttar Pradesh has denied any fresh construction activities at the site of Rs 2,600-crore memorials being constructed for Bahunjan Samaj Party founder Kanshiram and other Dalit leaders in Lucknow.
Although the authorities had maintained till the last minute that Mevani and his supporters did not have permission to hold the event, it seems the rally organisers and Delhi Police reached a compromise later.
Rapping the Mayawati government in Uttar Pradesh for spending a whooping Rs 2,500 crore on memorials for Kanshiram and other Dalit leaders in Lucknow city, the Supreme Court on Tuesday said it would examine the constitutional validity of such memorials for political leaders, including ex-Prime Ministers, at taxpayers' money.
Successive elections have demonstrated that the BJP campaign switches towards polarisation when it is faced with palpable discontent among the electorate, notes Utkarsh Mishra.
When elected on July 18 -- which is almost a certainty, given the NDA's numbers in the electoral college -- Droupadi Murmu will be the first President born after Independence.
Mayawati also sought the dismissal of a plea, which alleged that pubic funds were misused in the construction of memorials and statues.
Training her guns on the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati was extremely critical of President Pratibha Patil's address to the joint sitting of parliament in New Delhi on Thursday.
Over 1.60 crore voters, including 75 lakh women, will decide the fate of 881 candidates in this phase.
The opposition BJP today sought to brand Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati as a "new-age Shahjahan" apparently over spending of a huge amount of money over setting up of parks and memorials in the state.
Priyanka Gandhi said that according to the family, the district magistrate meted out the worst treatment to them, and asked who was protecting the officer. In a tweet in Hindi, the Congress leader said, 'According to the aggrieved family, the worst treatment meted out to them was by the district magistrate. Who is trying to save him? He should be immediately suspended, and his role in the entire matter should be probed.'
Uttar Pradesh Chief Secretary Atul Kumar Gupta has tendered a 'sincere and unqualified apology' to the Supreme Court for allegedly going ahead with the construction of the Rs 2,600-crore memorials and statues of Dalit icons, including Chief Minister Mayawati, in Lucknow. In a 51-page affidavit, Gupta, while strongly denying any defiance of the SC's directions, said he has the highest respect for the apex court and was 'duty bound to comply' with its orders.
The FIR was lodged under The Epidemic Diseases Act for not maintaining social distancing and not wearing face masks.
"We expect over five lakh people to attend the rally where Mayawati will outline Bahujan Samaj Party's agenda for Maharashtra," Maharashtra's BSP president Vilas Garud said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati on Monday traded barbs with her party dubbed as 'Behenji Sampatti Party' and she punning on his initials calling him 'Mr Negative Dalit Man'.
Madhya Pradesh police said violence in Bhind and Morena districts was 'sponsored'.
The original suggestion was to call it 'Indian National Democratic Inclusive Alliance', but the word 'democratic' was replaced with 'developmental' after Kumar and Yechury raised some objections saying it sounded too similar to the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA), sources said.
