The Samajwadi Party can form the government in Uttar Pradesh without the support of the Congress, if initial leads turn into actual wins for the party. The party is leading at 171 seats and it can take the support of Ajit Singh's Rashtriya Lok Dal and others to reach the magic figure of 202 -- the number needed to form the state government. According to figures available till now, SP has emerged as the leading party in UP, the Bahujan Samaj Party is at second place.
With an eye to make the Rashtriya Lok Dal happy the Union Cabinet in a crucial meeting decided to rename the Lucknow airport as Chaudhary Charan Singh Airport. This was disclosed by Finance Minister P Chidambaram while briefing media-persons on the developments that took place in Thursday's meeting.
Gorkhaland supporters called for a bandh in Darjeeling for their own state, while Rashtriya Lok Dal leader Ajit Singh threatened to resume the agitation for a separate Harit Pradesh, as the planned statehood for Telangana sparked fresh demands to create new states.
In the past five years, UP's Opposition remained passive and defensive against the BJP, a trend that does not augur well for the impending battle.
Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party chief Om Prakash Rajbhar, Rashtriya Lok Dal's Anil Kumar and two Bharatiya Janata Party leaders were sworn in on Tuesday as Yogi Adityanath expanded his council of ministers, weeks ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.
A new crop of politicians is redefining the dynamics of politics in Uttar Pradesh. Neerja Chowdhury analyses the mood change in the poll-bound state.
Amid protests against acquisition of farmers' land, work on the Reliance power plant at Dadri in Uttar Pradesh will start from Thursday.
Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Ajit Singh on Monday took charge of the civil aviation ministry, saying it was a 'sensitive' portfolio.
Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Ajit Singh will be inducted as a Union Cabinet minister on Sunday in a minor expansion of the Council of Ministers by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha were adjourned till 2 pm after opposition members held protest in Parliament seeking a discussion on the issue.
Rajya Sabha MP Subhash Chandra on Tuesday filed his nomination from Rajasthan for the elections to the Upper House of Parliament as an Independent backed by the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Ajit Singh on Friday said that his party is in the process of holding talks with the Congress for the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections to be held next year.
Senior Janata Dal-United leader Dhananjay Singh pitched for Opposition unity ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls and said party workers in Uttar Pradesh want Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to contest the elections from the state's Phulpur constituency.
This will be the first time the BJP has got more seats than Chief Minister Nitish Kumar-led JD-U in Bihar, underscoring the change in their equations after they joined hands a few months back.
The seat equation for the opposition alliance will become a matter of debate as UP Congress state president Ajay Rai mentioned that Congress is prepared for all 80 seats in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls and is ready to contest on all 80 seats in Uttar Pradesh.
Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh on Wednesday claimed that a large number of Bahujan Samaj Party leaders in Uttar Pradesh are in touch with the party, and Ajit Singh-led Rashtriya Lok Dal is also willing to form an alliance with it ahead of the state assembly polls.
The five ministers in UP government are: Kokab Hamid, Anuradha Chaudhary, Babu Lal, Thakur Tejpal Singh and Swami Omvesh.
The case pertained to obstructing a public servant from performing his duty during a protest three years ago.
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A day after Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Ajit Singh was detained for trying to enter Uttar Pradesh, his son Jayant Chaudhary managed to give police a slip and bypassed the tight security arrangements at the state border in Meerut.
Lecturer Kavita Rani had alleged in letters before her disappearance on October 24 that she had received threats from various people including Babulal.
With the Centre blinking on the issue of formation of Telangana, Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Ajit Singh on Thursday decided to revive his demand for Harit Pradesh to be carved out of Uttar Pradesh after the Parliament session.
The BJP's top leadership will drop its MPs found to be facing anti-incumbency, according to its internal surveys -- a pivotal tactic to ensure the party achieves its target of winning 370 seats.
What was the "locus standi" of Sonia Gandhi when she along with the then prime minister Manhoman Singh inaugurated legislative buildings in Manipur and Tamil Nadu, the Bharatiya Janata Party asked on Wednesday while countering the Congress's criticism over the inauguration of the new Parliament building by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Development economist Jean Dreze said the Indian democracy is currently navigating a crisis that is not only limited to the 'recent wave of authoritarianism' but also suppression of opposition voices by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
Even as the grand old party seeks to promote opposition unity ahead of the hustings next year, Trinamool Congress supremo and West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, however, would be conspicuous by her absence at the event at Sree Kanteerava Stadium.
Nitish Kumar wants to assure the BJP leadership that he will continue to be a part of the NDA. But he also wants to secure a larger number of seats for his party in the 2025 assembly elections in Bihar.
Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi held a virtual meeting on Friday evening with leaders of 19 Opposition parties, including the chief ministers of some Opposition-ruled states, amid efforts to boost Opposition unity and evolve a common strategy against the National Democratic Alliance government.
41 constituencies spread over five districts-- Gopalganj, Siwan, Saran, Nalanda and Patna would go to polls in the last phase of polling on November 19.
Candidates contesting from Kunda (in Pratapgarh), Malhani (in Jaunpur), and Rasara (in Ballia) failed to secure enough votes to prevent forfeiture of their deposits.
Majority of these constituencies are in Uttar Pradesh and the party that is on the third slot even as the counting is still underway on several seats is the Bahujan Samaj Party, a party neither with the National Democratic Alliance nor the opposition INDIA bloc.
"No such alliance has been formed, but the possibilities are always there," All India Congress Committee general secretary Ashok Gehlot told PTI.
Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, who chaired a meeting of the Cabinet, met Governor T V Rajeshwar and conveyed to him its recommendation for convening a joint sitting of the State Legislature.
Yadav was dismissed in 2017 after he posted a video online complaining about the food served to the troops.
Before the violence and rioting that erupted in Nagpur on Monday, March 17, over Mughal emperor Aurangzeb's tomb came provocative statements from various political leaders.
These meetings with Pawar has fuelled speculations about the possibility of opposition parties coming together to form a third front against the Bharatiya Janata Party.
The meeting of opposition parties has been called by Bihar Chief Minister and Janata Dal-United leader Nitish Kumar to chalk out a joint strategy to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
Referring to the polling for the first phase of elections, Yogi said that the time for a "big decision" has come.
The ruling Samajwadi Party-Rashtriya Lok Dal combine swept the Zilla Panchayat chairmen polls, elections for which were held Saturday, winning 50 of the 65 seats.
A former protege of the JD-U de facto leader, Kushwaha, had revolted against Kumar in 2013, giving up his Rajya Sabha berth and floated his own outfit.
Ajit Singh-led Rashtriya Lok Dal on Monday joined the NDA fold and announced that the "formidable alliance" would work towards a change in government in the Centre and in Uttar Pradesh.
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