In surprising comments, Mulayam Singh Yadav on Saturday said his Samajwadi Party, a key outside supporter of the United Progressive Alliance government, is in the "opposition" and will fulfill its role in that capacity.
Why did former solicitor general of India Goolam Vahanvati bail out Mulayam Singh Yadav at a time when the Congress and Samajwadi Party didn't see eye-to-eye? What was Amar Singh's interest in saving the UPA government? These are some of the question posed by legal activist Vishwanath Chaturvedi in his criminal complaint against the Delhi Police's chargesheet in the cash-for-votes scam. Sheela Bhatt reports
Why did former solicitor general of India Goolam Vahanvati bail out Mulayam Singh Yadav at a time when the Congress and Samajwadi Party didn't see eye-to-eye? What was Amar Singh's interest in saving the UPA government? These are some of the question posed by legal activist Vishwanath Chaturvedi in his criminal complaint against the Delhi Police's chargesheet in the cash-for-votes scam. Sheela Bhatt reports
In comments that can stoke a fresh controversy, Union minister Beni Prasad Verma on Monday said the next Lok Sabha elections will see a direct fight between Rahul Gandhi and Narendra Modi.
Claiming that his party could come to power at the Centre, Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav on Saturday said the present political equations indicate that both Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party would not be able to get a majority in the 2014 general election.
"Changes should be visible in six months and the manifesto should be implemented within a year as there is no guarantee when Lok Sabha elections are announced after that," Mulayam said, addressing party leaders and workers at a function to mark the 102nd anniversary of Dr Ram Manohar Lohia in Lucknow.
As yoga guru Ramdev raised the pitch against Congress over the issue of black money, United Progressive Alliance ally Samajwadi Party on Monday said it will support anybody who fights for the cause.
Even as Uttar Pradesh chief minister designate Akhilesh Yadav was awaiting his coronation on Thursday, his father and Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav was busy giving final touches to the formation of the son's first government.
Urdu journalist cum politician Shahid Siddiqui, who made waves recently when he was sacked by the Samajwadi Party for interviewing Gujarat CM Narendra Modi for his paper, spoke to Neerja Chowdhury on Uttar Pradesh, the goings on in the SP and the government led by it, of which he has had more than a ringside view.
At 38, Akhilesh is the youngest chief minister of India's most populous state.
Akhilesh Yadav, Uttar Pradesh's new chief minister, will have to take some tough decisions to prove himself to be a good administrator and restore the law and order in the state, feels Congress-turned-Samajwadi Party politician Shahid Siddiqui
The Samajwadi Party wants Mulayam Singh Yadav to be the next chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, says a rising star of the party. The issue of whether Mulayam's son Akhilesh Yadav should become the next chief minister, instead of his father, was not discussed at the first post-poll meeting of SP legislators in the state capital.
There are strong rumours of Akhilesh Yadav, son of Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, of being the new chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, as the party holds its first post-poll meeting at the party's headquarters in Lucknow.
With the Samajwadi Party, Akali Dal and the Bharatiya Janata Party emerging victorious in the assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Goa respectively, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday called up their leaders to congratulate them.
The Samajwadi Party will hold its parliamentary board meeting on Wednesday to decide it's chief ministerial candidate.
Rediff.com's Faisal Kidwai sends a first-person account from Lucknow
Akhilesh Yadav, president of the Uttar Pradesh unit of the Samajwadi Party, tells Aditi Phadnis what his party's agenda will be if it comes to power
Union minister Beni Prasad Verma on Saturday justified the sub-quota within quota for Muslims saying their condition was even worse than backwards.
Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday blasted Samajwadi Party president Mulayanm Singh Yadav in the latter's pocket-burrow in Mainpuri.
Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, who backed United Progressive Alliance Presidential nominee Pranab Mukherjee, on Thursday mistakenly cast his vote in favour of BJP-backed P A Sangma, but realised it in time and took remedial steps.
Training his guns on the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Samajwadi Party, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday said corruption and scams were rampant during their regimes.
Not only the variety of corporate interests are putting the pressure on every little detail regarding the 2G auction process, but even Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav is lobbying for it openly, reports Sheela Bhatt.
Having made it clear that he was not obsessed with becoming the prime minister, Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday termed posts as hurdles, which bring distance between people.
Sources said investigators are filing a closure report soon following probe into a complaint filed by Bhushan that the CD was fabricated. A case under section 469 of Indian Penal Code (forgery for the purpose of harming reputation) was registered in mid-April.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Thursday attacked Congress saying 62 big scams involving around Rs 20 lakh crore have taken place during the UPA regime at the Centre.
'Although Rahul's energy and commitment are to be acknowledged, there is no alternative to good party organisation at the grassroots, and this the Congress lacks. If they set their organisational house in order, combined with an enlightened leadership, the Congress will go far in many states.'
T V R Shenoy explains the likely reasons behind the West Bengal chief minister's seemingly bizarre political behaviour.
Congress' star campaigner Rahul Gandhi on Saturday pointedly blamed both Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav and Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati for "gross neglect" of Muslims in Uttar Pradesh. Sharat Pradhan reports.
Asks a senior Congressman: "When his position on home ground is weak, when his most senior colleague is expected to leave the Cabinet on being selected for the President's post, and when within the party too his handling of economy is being questioned, why should he go abroad for so long?"
A remark made by a Samajwadi Party leader on the use of the Hindi word 'hamara' by Mamata Banerjee on Friday triggered speculation whether Mulayam Singh Yadav's party was still with Trinamool Congress in putting up A P J Abdul Kalam as a Presidential candidate.
Accusing the Congress party of doublespeak, Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav on Monday demanded that the party either sack general secretary Digvijaya Singh or take action against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Home Minister P Chidambaram on the Batla House encounter case.
"It is wrong information. I can say only this. He (Kalam) is our (TMC-SP) candidate in the presidential election. There is no ego, no quarrel, no fight," Mamata Banerjee told reporters seeking to dismiss persistent reports that the SP was no longer keen on backing Kalam
Surprised at his name being proposed for the Presidential post, former Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee has said he will consider the move if there is a large consensus on it.
Indicating that the Samajwadi Party may be open to compromise on Presidential candidate, its leader Mohan Singh on Thursday said that it cannot go with the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance.
Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee, who has teamed up with Samajawadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav to come up with their own names for the Presidential poll, is unlikely to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and has deferred plans to go back to Kolkata.
Jaswant Singh on Tuesday met Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav amid speculation that the Bharatiya Janata Party leader could be lobbying for the vice president's post
In a jolt to Rashtriya Lok Dal, its Rajya Sabha member of Parliament Shahid Siddiqui and Anuradha Chowdhury, a former aide of party chief Ajit Singh, on Sunday joined the Samajwadi Party ahead of the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls.
Differences in Samajwadi Party over induction of controversial politician D P Yadav into the party on Thursday burst into the open with the SP sacking senior leader Mohan Singh from the post of its national spokesman.
Mayawati's eventful tenure in Uttar Pradesh seems to be heading for a change in the upcoming assembly elections, expected to be held in February-March next year.
Samajwadi Party chief and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav told mediapersons in New Delhi on Wednesday that his party has not taken any decision about projecting someone as the chief ministerial candidate in the forthcoming elections of the UP assembly.