The remark triggered sharp reactions from opposition leaders, who accused the minister of being insensitive to the plight of those affected by floods.
The Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Congress's alliance in Uttar Pradesh came under scrutiny as both parties did not hold a single joint campaign for the bypolls to nine assembly seats. While both parties maintained that the alliance is strong, BJP ally Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) claimed a crack in the alliance. The Congress opted out of the bypolls and announced coordination committees for all nine seats to support the SP. However, the absence of joint rallies raised questions about the alliance's strength. The SP campaign was spearheaded by its chief Akhilesh Yadav, while the Congress cited its leaders' busy schedules in Maharashtra and Jharkhand for the lack of joint campaigns. The bypoll results will be announced on November 23.
The Samajwadi Party and Congress have announced that they will contest together under the INDIA bloc.
While the Congress top brass has declined the invitation to the January 22 consecration ceremony at Ayodhya's Ram temple, the party's Uttar Pradesh unit plans to go ahead with its own event a week earlier in the holy town.
Former district panchayat member Prem Yadav, 50, was attacked with sharp edged weapons and killed by his rival Satyaprakash Dubey and his family when he went to the latter's house. In retaliation, Yadav's supporters from Abhaipur attacked Dubey's house and killed Dubey and four of his family.
While Brijlal Khabri, former BSP MP from Jalaun, is UP Congress Committee chairman, former UP cabinet minister and Mayawati's once close confidant Naseemuddin Siddiqui heads the party's state media department. Completing the ex-BSP troika, Nakul Dubey, former UP cabinet minister in the Mayawati dispensation (2007-12), is one of the six UP Congress regional presidents. He is reckoned among the most active of the three.
The renovation of the property is underway, encompassing painting of walls, cleaning, and other necessary repairs befitting the new entrant's stature and requirements. The bungalow, spread over about 1.5 acres, belongs to the family of veteran Congress leader the late Sheila Kaul, who was the sister-in-law of India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru. Virendra Singh Rawat reports.
Party's state unit chiefs of Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat were also detained along with the workers during the protests.
'People feel that if they belonged to some other community, their matters would've been resolved more easily.' 'It is because of the government's mistreatment and ill-will that this feeling has got into the community.'
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi may hold a public rally in Banda, to mark the party's protest against what they perceive as "total breakdown of law and order", reflected in the rape of a minor OBC girl by a BSP MLA in his own constituency in that district."
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Thursday demanded that the Centre book UP Congress Committee president Ritu Bahuguna Joshi, for her alleged inflammatory comments against the Bahujan Samaj Party chief, under the Prevention of Atrocities Act against Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes.Mayawati condemned the language used by the Congress' state unit chief and said that BSP workers were so upset that they wanted to take to the streets.
It submitted a memorandum to UP Governor Vishnukant Shastri seeking a review of the governments decision to rename Amethi district after Chatrapati Sahuji Maharaj.
Here's an analysis of the style and strategy of the man who did the magic for Narendra Modi and then Nitish Kumar and whom the Congress has now hired.