Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP) president Om Praksh Rajbhar on Thursday said his alliance with the SP will support jailed BSP MLA Mukhtar Ansari in the upcoming 2022 Uttar Pradesh assembly polls.
"Nobody is sympathising with Atiq Ahmad because a criminal should be punished. But anyone who will see this video will question if we are a democracy. Every criminal has the right to be heard in court and be convicted there. But you can see they were killed in police custody in the open," he said.
The Congress said the alliance between the BSP and Jogi's Janta Congress Chhattisgarh has the support of the BJP, which is ruling the state since 2003.
Congress leaders, on their part, are confident that the mobilisation of voters away from the BJP will gain more momentum in the state elections, scheduled for October 1, in the absence of national issues and the 'Modi factor'.
The withdrawal of the candidature by DPAP leaders on the last day on August 30 is seen as a boost to the NC-Congress alliance.
Despite this setback, Pandey emphasised that discussions regarding ticket distribution are ongoing and solutions will be found through timely communication.
Shami had been a five-time president of the Mauaima block. He was allegedly involved in a number of criminal cases.
The development is being seen as a blow to the opposition Congress which was planning to forge a grand alliance in Chhattisgrah to unseat the ruling BJP.
Shinde welcomed the former Rajasthan minister to the Shiv Sena and said Gudha left the ministerial position for the cause of people.
Earlier this week, the Congress claimed that the BJP had "abducted" some MLAs of the ruling party as well as its allies BSP and the SP to bring down the Madhya Pradesh government.
Besides the national capital, polling will be held Saturday in 14 seats in Uttar Pradesh, all 10 seats of Haryana, eight seats each in Bihar and West Bengal, six seats in Odisha, four seats in Jharkhand and one seat in Jammu and Kashmir. Simultaneously, polling will be held for 42 assembly constituencies in Odisha.
The notable names in the BJP's first list include Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Varanasi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh from Lucknow, Hema Malini from Mathura, Ajay Mishra Teni from Kheri, Smriti Irani from Amethi, Lallu Singh from Faizabad (Ayodhya) and Mahendra Nath Pandey from Chandauli among others.
Jailed MLA of Quami Ekta Dal Mukhtar Ansari will withdraw his candidature from Varanasi against BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, "to strengthen secular forces and avoid division of votes".
Akhilesh Yadav said those who are looking for "profit" in the situation will leave.
In a crackdown on associates of gangster Atiq Ahmed named in the sensational Umesh Pal murder case, the Prayagraj Development Authority on Wednesday demolished the house of a close aide of Ahmed.
A senior SP leader requesting anonymity said that the party chief had called a meeting to brief the MLAs about the voting process of the Rajya Sabha elections.
He said the Uttar Pradesh police in all likelihood will seek his transit remand and also police remand to take him from Ahmedabad to Prayagraj and he "genuinely apprehends that he may be eliminated during this transit period".
As controversy raged over Yati Narsinghanand's objectionable remarks against Prophet Muhammad, his supporters on Sunday alleged that the Dasna temple head priest is being illegally kept in detention by police, which denied the claim.
Violence erupted in Azamgarh district in Uttar Pradesh after former Member of Legislative Assembly and Bahujan Samaj Party leader Sarvesh Singh Seepu and another person was shot dead by unidentified assailants.
'The Constitution of India defeated the BJP.'
Against the Samajwadi Party's decision to field actor Jaya Bachchan and retired IAS officer Alok Ranjan as its candidates for the Rajya Sabha polls, Apna Dal (Kamerawadi) leader and party MLA Pallavi Patel on Wednesday said she will not cast her vote.
Police on Wednesday arrested a man accused of urinating on a tribal youth in Madhya Pradesh's Sidhi district, an official said.
A local court in Banda on Friday extended the judicial remand alleged rapist MLA Purshottam Naresh Dwivedi by 14 days.
Action will be taken against such MLAs, he said.
Mayawati was outmanoeuvred by the BJP in the race for the Rajya Sabha in Uttar Pradesh just days after she helped the Samajwadi Party snatch two Lok Sbaha seats from the saffron party in bypolls.
In its first list for the upcoming assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh, the ruling BJP has focused on seats it lost in 2018 and some of them even in 2013, and has reposed faith in 14 candidates, including three former ministers, who lost last time.
Three Congress MLAs -- Hardeep Singh Dang, Bisahulal Singh and Raghuraj Kansana -- are reportedly still untraceable.
In a special campaign from April 2017 till July 2021, 13,801 cases were lodged under the Gangster Act and 43,294 accused arrested, while the National Security Act was invoked against 630 people, Additional Director General of Police, Law and Order, Prashant Kumar said.
Out of the 25 seats, five seats each are reserved for Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes.
District authorities have filed a case against 10 political and community leaders including ex Bahujan Samaj Party MP Kadir Rana and former Uttar Pradesh minister Saeeduzama of Congress for allegedly making inflammatory speeches.
The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has pinned its hopes on the old guard to ensure victory in next month's assembly elections in Chhattisgarh as it gave tickets to 11 sitting MLAs and renominated 13 leaders who lost in the 2018 polls.
The bullet-riddled bodies of Ahmad and Ashraf were taken away from the spot as tension gripped the area after the sensational killing.
Rebels in the Bahujan Samaj Party have attacked their party chief Mayawati for her "extortionist tendencies," with BSP's Rajya Sabha MP Jugal Kishore calling her "daulat ki beti".
BJP sources suggest that the upcoming elections will likely revolve around the renewed enthusiasm for the temple unless another theme with religious and nationalist undertones emerges.
Terming the incident as serious, UP CM Yogi Adityanath has ordered a probe.
Three prisoners, including a member of Bahujan Samaj Party MLA Mukhtar Ansari's gang, were shot dead inside the Chitrakoot district jail on Friday after which the Uttar Pradesh government suspended two jail officials, police said.
Saturday's voting will mark the end to the marathon polling process that began on April 19 month and has already covered 486 Lok Sabha seats in 28 states and Union territories.
A visibly upset Shivpal Yadav said, "I was never called to any meeting (of the SP) and no information was given to me."
While a few 'bahubalis' managed wins in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, a majority of them were rejected by the voters. According to the results, many alleged dons-turned-politicians failed to make it to the Uttar Pradesh Assembly.
'Educated Muslim women overwhelmingly voted for me because of Modiji's stand on triple talaq.'
