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 Congress chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi on Friday met Congress President Sonia Gandhi and offered to resign owning moral responsibility for the poll debacle.
Gandhi has expressed "deep pain and anguish" over what has happened in Uttar Pradesh, All India Congress Committee general secretary Janardan Dwivedi quoted her as saying. Dwivdei told media-persons that the party regrets the personal elements in reference to Chief Minister Mayawati in Joshi's remarks.
Rahul Gandhi on Monday met the teenaged girl, who was allegedly raped by a Bahujan Samaj Party MLA, in her village in Banda district of Uttar Pradesh and assured her of all possible help after the victim claimed that she was getting threats from the legislator's henchmen.
Congress Member of Parliament Mohammad Azharduddin on Friday courted arrest, along with his supporters in Moradabad, to protest against the ransacking of Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi's residence in Lucknow. Azharuddin, after offering Friday's namaz at the Jama Masjid in Moradabad today afternoon, took out a march along with his supporters from Jama Masjid despite prohibitory orders.
Trying to insulate Rahul Gandhi from being targetted for any poll debacle in Uttar Pradesh, state party chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi on Tuesday said she will take responsibility for such eventuality if the party fails to convert Gandhi's presence into votes.
The Uttar Pradesh government on Sunday announced a Crime Branch-Crime Investigation Department inquiry into the arson at Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi's home following her derogatory remarks against Chief Minister Mayawati, but the Congress leader demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation probe.
The Bahujan Samaj Party office in Ghaziabad caught fire late on Thursday night in a suspected attack in the wake of the arrest of Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi, who had made derogatory remarks about Chief Minister Mayawati, but the police attributed the blaze to short circuit.
Infighting in Congress in the wake of its electoral debacle in Uttar Pradesh came out in the open on Thursday with Pradesh Congress Committee chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi saying there was a "lot of sabotage" at the local level in the party which is in a "crisis" at this moment.
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.
Singh, who represents the Bikapur assembly constituency in Faizabad district, had said that jobs in the BSP government were up for sale and that there was a price tag on every new appointment. "It is no secret that jobs in the present government go only to those who are ready to shell out money", he told a local gathering in Sohawal town of his constituency on Tuesday evening.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday expressed concern over the safety of Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi whose house in Lucknow was burnt allegedly by the Bahujan Samaj Party supporters recently.
"By providing security to our leader, the state government that orchestrated the attack just wants to win the support of the people as it has come under attack from various sections," he added.
Under attack by the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee Chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi for using helicopters to hand over cheques to rape victims in the state, the state government has decided that instead of director general of police, the job would be now done by concerned district magistrates.
In her petition, Joshi squarely blamed state Chief Minister Mayawati and her henchmen for the arson attack.
Bahujan Samaj Party leader Intezaar Ahmad Abdi, allegedly involved in the arson at Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi's house in Lucknow, has been appointed the chairman of state sugar corporation by the Mayawati government, a move that has invited the ire of the Congress.
A local court in Moradabad could not take up on Friday morning the hearing of the bail application of Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi, who is currently in judicial custody for allegedly making derogatory remarks against Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati.
Additional District Judge Sudha Sharma passed the order and fixed July 29 as the next date of hearing.
Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi was on Saturday granted interim bail by a local court in a case relating to derogatory remarks against Chief Minister Mayawati. The release order has been sent to the district jail, where she has been lodged after she was arrested under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act for allegedly making derogatory remarks against Mayawati.
The names of Bahujan Samaj Party Member of Legislative Assembly Jitendra Singh and local party leader Imtizar Abdi have been added in the FIR filed in connection with the arson at the house of Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi in Lucknow. The names of the two have been added on Friday night on the basis of a complaint by Joshi and Congress general secretary Subodh Srivastava, police sources said on Saturday.
All India Congress Committee general secretary Rahul Gandhi on Friday took potshots at the Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party government in Uttar Pradesh, saying there is place for statues and elephants but not development, and spoke of the need for Congress to come to power in the state. On a thanksgiving visit to his constituency Amethi, the first after his victory in the Lok Sabha polls, he avoided any comments on the raging row.
In an obvious reference to the allegations made by UP Congress chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi who had earlier in the day charged the UP chief minister of amassing huge amounts of wealth and property, UP Cabinet Secretary Shashank Shekhar Singh told a press conference in Lucknow on Tuesday, "The UP chief minister does not own an inch of land anywhere."
The 60-year-old Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee chief was arrested on July 15 for allegedly making unpalatable remarks against Mayawati.
Bahuguna is said to be unhappy with the Congress leadership over projection of Sheila Dikshit as the party's chief ministerial face
Shergill said the primary reason was that "the ideology and the vision of the current decision makers of the Congress is no longer in sync with the aspirations of the youth and modern India".
Joining the BJP cannot have been an easy decision for former UP Congress chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi, who grew up with secular values and appears to be a victim of the party's durbar politics. Amit Agnihotri reports.
Launching a fresh attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party over the Gujarat snooping row, Congress leader Manish Tewari on Monday asked why no private security officer was provided if the woman in question was being protected at her father's behest.
The dates selected by the organizers, particularly for Kanpur and Lucknow, could once again ignite communal trouble.
Former Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal was re-nominated by Congress from Chandigarh on Thursday brushing aside the "taint" argument as it released the second list of 71 candidates who include film star Nagma in Meerut and Youth Congress chief Rajeevv Satav from Hingoli.
Narendra Modi "does not deserve" to be BJP's PM candidate if the Cobrapost claim on illegal spying on a woman architect in Gujarat in 2009 are found to be correct, Congress women leaders said today demanding an inquiry into the issue by a Supreme Court judge.
Sudhir Bisht recalls the battle of 1984, in which UP's strongman H N Bahuguna was felled by Bollywood superstar turned political novice Amitabh Bachchan.
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