The Bharatiya Janata Party and Samajwadi Party on Thursday blocked in the Lok Sabha a bill to provide reservation for SCs and STs in government job promotions, delaying the measure which was seen as quid pro quo for Bahujan Samaj Party's support to United Progressive Alliance on Foreign Direct Investment in retail.
Jannayak Janta Party, which had emerged as the kingmaker last assembly polls, was decimated this time round, while the Indian National Lok Dal also failed to create much impact, with prominent leaders of both outfits Dushyant Chautala and Abhay Singh Chautala losing their seats.
In the chair was Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, a Bharatiya Janata Party leader of the old school with friends across parties unlike the duo who currently run the BJP.
They may differ in their ideologies but thanks to the Election Commission, 13 political parties share five symbols in various states. According to the EC website, Bala Saheb Thackeray's Shiv Sena, which preaches Hindu nationalism, shares its symbol 'Bow and Arrow' with Shibu Soren's Jharkhand Mukti Morcha which focuses on regional interests.
However, the national party count has gone down to six from 14 in over seven decades.
Akhilesh Yadav's stock rose dramatically on Tuesday with his Samajwadi Party cutting the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party down to size in Uttar Pradesh.
Rape accused Bahujan Samaj Party Member of Legislative Assembly Purshottam Naresh Dwivedi has threatened to take revenge on opposition parties, accusing them of implicating him in a false case. Dwivedi, 48, who represents Naraini seat in Uttar Pradesh assembly, was on the run after orders for his arrest were issued on Thursday in connection with the alleged criminal assault on the 17-year-old girl. The MLA was later sent to 14 days of judicial remand.
The Bahujan Samaj Party will not enter into any alliance for Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand assembly polls, party chief Mayawati said.
"We don't agree with the ideology of the Congress. But we will support it to keep the BJP out of power," Mayawati said.
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Polling for the seventh phase of the Lok Sabha elections will take place on Saturday, June 1, 2024, with 57 seats going to the polls across 8 states.
'It is an existential crisis. We cannot recover lost ground through social media. We need to forge alliances and reshape our ideological contours.'
"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.
Mayawati said both the BJP and the SP indulged in empty talks to win the votes of Dalits and Brahmins, but neither safeguarded their interests when in power.
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.
BSP's poor show in Delhi assembly elections may cost it national party status.
Siddiqui's exit came within hours of the publication of his interview in the English daily Indian Express -- bearing the headline 'Mayawati comes, speaks, goes, there's no discussion' -- where he had sought to brand Mayawati as a despot.
Appealing to party workers to treat Bahujan Samaj Party's victory in Uttar Pradesh assembly elections as her birthday gift, Chief Minister and party supremo Mayawati on Sunday released a list of candidates for all 403 seats in the state.
Mayawati was severely criticised both inside and outside Parliament as the currency garland controversy sparked demands for a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the source of money used to make the garland reportedly worth Rs 5 crore.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar is a "senior leader and MLA of the party", Supriya Sule said on Thursday when asked about the status of the former in the Nationalist Congress Party.
Haryana has recorded a voter turnout of 67.90 per cent with Ellenabad assembly seat in Sirsa district witnessing the highest polling percentage at over 80 per cent, according to the updated figures of the Election Commission on Sunday.
The ruling BJP's income forms 76.73 percent of the total income of the six national parties during FY 2022-23, it said.
With major political parties shying away from giving them tickets for Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls, lesser-known political outfits have become a hot favourite of listed gangsters and those having a criminal past.
The Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) gave a huge blow to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance by winning 43 seats out of total 80 Lok Sabha seats of Uttar Pradesh, as per the Election Commission.
The Crime Branch of the Criminal Investigation Department, which was entrusted with the probe into the sensational case, took BSP MLA Jitendra Singh 'Babloo' and UP State Ganna Sansthan chairman Intezar Abdi 'Bobby' into custody late Thursday night.
Prominent Bhartiya Janata Party leaders on Friday came out openly against their party leadership's decision to induct tainted and ousted Bahujan Samaj Party minister Babu Singh Kushwaha into the party fold.
The 13 who have been disqualified were the ones who first broke away from the BSP to lend support to the Mulayam Singh government.
The ruling Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday retained the Handia assembly seat by defeating its Bahujan Samaj Party rival by a comprehensive margin of more than 26,000 votes.
The Congress on Monday claimed that it will play a crucial role in the formation of the next government in Uttar Pradesh and dismissed as personal views Union Minister Beni Prasad Verma's suggestions for a tie-up with the Bahujan Samaj Party.
The old alliance between the BJP and the SAD broke last year when the Shiromani Akali Dal quit the National Democratic Alliance over the farm laws.
Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party has emerged as the third largest party in the Rajya Sabha, relegating the CPI(M) to fourth position in yet another bad news for Marxists ahead of the Assembly polls in West Bengal and Kerala.
Despite Mayawati's pre-poll claims that her Bahujan Samaj Party would spring a surprise in the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, the party was leading in only three of the 403 seats in the state, trends showed Thursday.
The BJP had registered a one-sided victory on all the 17 SC-reserved seats in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. But in 2019, out of these 17 seats, it lost Nagina and Lalganj seats to the Bahujan Samaj Party.
Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani on Thursday admitted that people were "disappointed" with the party and appeared to be hitting out at party chief Nitin Gadkari as he said the campaign against corruption had been hurt due to induction of an ousted Bahujan Samaj Party leader facing graft charges.
Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi on Tuesday asserted that Congress will not form alliance with Bahujan Samaj Party, Samajwadi Party or Bharatiya Janata Party in the event of a hung assembly in the state.
The focus now shifts to smaller parties and Independents who will play an important role in government formation.
Her official Twitter handle is @SushriMayawati.
The Congress this time won six of the 10 seats reserved for the SC category, one less than in 2018.
'Everybody knows Mayawati sells party tickets and even her party members take pride in telling this'
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