News Analysis India

Tag: BJP

  • Fearing poaching, Congress, AAP may shift newly elected MLAs out of Punjab

    Express News Service

    CHANDIGARH:  Fearing poaching of MLAs by rivals once the Assembly results are declared on March 10, the Congress and AAP are likely to shift their newly elected legislators out of Punjab. While the grand old party may shift its Punjab MLAs to Rajasthan, the Delhi’s ruling party is expected to shift its MLAs to the national capital.

    While all parties are clamming that they will form the next government in the state, there are fears that the verdict will create a hung House. Sources said there are apprehensions that if nobody gets a clear majority, the SAD and its former partner BJP would try to form an alliance government and if they fall short of the required numbers, they would poach the legislators of Congress and AAP. 

    “There has been a decision to keep the newly elected Congress MLAs of Punjab in Jaipur as there is a Congress government in Rajasthan. As per internal surveys, the party might get around 50 seats in Punjab and fall short of majority,’’ said a party leader on condition of anonymity.

    SAD may approach BJP to form alliance govtThe AAP has made a plan so that their newly elected MLAs are not poached by other political parties. It is likely the AAP legislators might be taken to Delhi. Meanwhile, sources in the Shiromani Akali Dal said party president Sukhbir Singh Badal has been in Delhi for the last few days. As per an internal survey the SAD-BSP alliance might get around 35 seats. The SAD leaders are in touch with the BJP to form a post-poll alliance if they have the numbers to form government.

  • UP polls: With heavyweights conducting rallies, Varanasi becomes last big battleground

    Express News Service

    VARANASI: With the long drawn, seven phase assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh set to end with voting for 54 seats of nine eastern districts on March 7, Varanasi — one of the oldest living cities of the world – turned out to be the last big battleground of all major political parties and their top leadership on Friday.

    While BJP’s top leader in the country, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi (who is also the two-time sitting MP from Varanasi) embarked on a long road show through the main city areas, BJP’s prime opponent, the Samajwadi Party chief and ex-UP CM Akhilesh Yadav too carried out a road-show in another part of the same religious city.

    And if that wasn’t all, the Congress party, which is eyeing a revival in its fortunes in these polls, had its two most charismatic leaders, the siblings Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, holding public rallies in rural area, where their candidates have turned the so far direct contest between BJP alliance and SP alliance into multi-cornered battle.

    The prime attraction of the day, however, was PM Modi’s massive road-show, which waded through an unending crowd of city residents and BJP supporters, while covering a distance of 8-odd km, from Maldahiya crossing to Lanka-BHU Gate.

    After reiterating at a public rally in Mirzapur district, the commitment of his government to safely evacuate every Indian stranded in war torn Ukraine at a time when the entire world was going through a very critical, the PM flew to his parliamentary constituency Varanasi at around 4 pm and embarked on the road-show around an hour and 45 minutes delay.

    After garlanding the statue of Sardar Patel, the PM’s road-show travelled to the Kashi Vishwanath Dham Corridor, traversing through various areas of Varanasi North, Varanasi South and Varanasi Cantt assembly segments, amid unending crowds of local residents and supporters, raising slogans in support of their two-time MP.

    The road-show which was dotted with floral welcome at various points by senior BJP leaders, took almost three hours in travelling 3 kms to reach the KV Dham Corridor, where the PM offered prayers at the world famous Kashi Vishwanath Temple, after playing the king size dumroo amid reverberating chants of Kashi’s signature slogan Har Har Mahadev.

    He subsequently travelled through the further crowded areas between Godowlia Crossing and Lanka-BHU Gate (covering major part of Varanasi South and Varanasi Cantt seats), but stopped in between to relish kulhad tea with BJP rank and file at the famous Pappu Tea Shop at Assi Crossing, which for long has been the most talked about political gossip point of the ancient city.        

    This was the PM’s fifth poll-related road-show in Varanasi since 2014, when he first won the LS polls, defeating AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal. The Friday’s roadshow was a re-run of the 2017 polls campaigning, when Modi had carried out two back-to-back road-shows in response to UP Ke Ladke Akhilesh Yadav and Rahul Gandhi’s road-shows. It was largely aimed at galvanizing the party’s rank and file and appealing the electorate in three urban seats, Varanasi South, Varanasi North and Varanasi Cantt, to vote for sitting BJP MLAs (including two ministers) who are facing high anti-incumbency.

    The PM, who would camp in Varanasi for two days, will address a rally at Khajuri (located on the junction of two rural Pindra and Sewapuri seats) where both the BJP candidates are having a tough time against high anti-incumbency.

    The BJP is pinning high hopes on the PM’s two day stay in Varanasi, as a similar campaign by him in the city in 2017, had helped the party not only win all eight seats of Varanasi district, but several seats of adjoining districts also.

    Meanwhile, the Congress leader siblings Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, addressed poll rally in Pindra assembly constituency, where the party’s ex-MLA Ajay Rai (who was a minister in erstwhile BJP government in the past) is strongly contesting against sitting BJP MLA Avdhesh Singh and BSP candidate Babulal Patel.

    Knowing well that the BSP candidate could benefit from division in upper caste votes between the BJP and Congress candidate, Rahul was highly critical of the BSP, terming the elephant symbol party the B Team of the BJP. He also lashed out at the Samajwadi Party for fostering an atmosphere of violence and anarchy during its past rule in UP.

     The last big ticket campaign of the day was a road-show by SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, who had to travel 1.5 km between Rathyatra Crossing and Girjaghar Crossing, covering parts of Varanasi Cantt and Varanasi South seats. The road-show was on at the time of filing this news report.

  • Maharashtra Assembly adjourned twice as MVA government and BJP blame each other over OBC quota issue

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: The MVA government and opposition BJP on Friday blamed each other in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly for the Supreme Court’s rejection of the interim report of the State Backward Classes Commission, which recommended that 27 per cent quota can be granted to the community in the local body polls in the state.

    Due to slogan-shouting by the members, Deputy Speaker Narhari Zirwal adjourned the House twice – once for 20 minutes and later till the end of the Question Hour.

    As soon as the Lower House assembled for the day, the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) quota issue was raised by Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis through an adjournment notice.

    The former chief minister demanded that the issue be taken up for discussion and the rest of the business be set aside.

    He said there should be no election to local bodies in the state till the political quota of the OBCs is restored.

    Fadnavis termed the interim report of the commission, which was rejected by the apex court, as a mockery.

    “The report has no date about when the data was collected and does not carry any signatures. The state’s lawyers failed to explain on what basis the 27 per cent quota has been recommended,” he said.

    In the coming days, two third local bodies of the state will have to go to polls and if they take place without the OBC quota, the community will not get any representation, he added.

    “What happened in the Supreme Court was shameful for Maharashtra,” Fadnavis said, and demanded that the state enact a law, which will allow it to fix the dates of local bodies elections.

    Maharashtra Food and Civil Supplies Minister and prominent OBC leader, Chhagan Bhujbal, admitted that there could be some technical mistakes in the report since it was compiled expeditiously.

    In 2010, the apex court had asked for compilation of empirical data regarding information of political backwardness of the OBCs.

    The UPA government had started the process of collecting the data which was submitted in 2016, but the Modi government did not share the data with the state, he said.

    “Even Fadnavis, who was state chief minister for five years, did not do anything on that front,” Bhujbal alleged.

    “Neither you nor the Modi government took any further steps further and now you are blaming us,” he said and accused Fadnavis of indulging in politics.

    After Bhujbal’s statement, Zirwal said he was rejecting the adjournment notice and called for the question hour.

    But the BJP legislators started shouting slogans, following which the House was adjourned for 20 minutes.

    But when the proceedings resumed after that, the slogan-shouting continued, due to which it was adjourned for the second time till the end of the question hour.

    The Supreme Court on Thursday said it is “not possible” to permit any authority to act upon the recommendation made in the interim report of the state Backward Classes Commission, which has said that up to 27 per cent reservation can be granted to the OBCs in the local bodies in Maharashtra, subject to the condition that the total quota shall not exceed 50 per cent limit.

    The apex court said the report itself mentions that it has been prepared in the absence of empirical study and research by the commission.

    The top court directed all concerned not to act upon the interim report of the commission.

    On January 19, the top court had directed the state government to submit data on OBCs to the commission to examine its correctness and make recommendations on their representation in elections for the local bodies.

  • Mafia will be set free if Samajwadi Party voted to power: Amit Shah

    By PTI

    AZAMGARH: The mafia serving time in jail will be released if the Samajwadi Party comes to power in Uttar Pradesh, Home Minister Amit Shah said on Thursday, adding that the Akhilesh Yadav-led party and the BSP have “tasted defeat” in the first five rounds of polling.

    Shah also announced free electricity to farmers, gas cylinders to women on the eve of festivities and scooters to young women, if voted to power again in the state.

    “I had promised that the rule of mafia will end in Uttar Pradesh, and in five years, all mafia have been finished. Atiq Ansari and Mukhtar Ansari are in jail under the Yogi Adityanath government. It will not be the same if the SP comes to power in UP and such elements will be released,” Shah said during an an election rally here.

    The SP and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) have been defeated in the first five rounds of polling and now the BJP needs votes to ensure that it gets more than 300 seats, the home minister said.

    Hitting out at Akhilesh Yadav, Shah said the SP chief is wearing black glasses so he can see only darkness.

    Hailing the Yogi Adityanath government, he said there has been a sharp decline in the crime rate in the last five years.

    In order to woo women voters and farmers, Shah announced that a free cylinder will be given to every house on the occasion of Holi and Diwali and that free electricity will be provided to farmers for five years if the BJP reassumes power.

    He also announced that jobs will be given to the youth on basis of their qualification while he promised free scooters for young women.

    Hitting out at political rivals, Shah said the opposition parties kept Article 370, which gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir, for over seven decades.

    “Our government withdrew it and nobody dared to throw a single stone (in protest),” he said.

    Azamgarh will go to polls in the last phase of the ongoing Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections on March 7.

  • BJP is ‘losing’ in Uttar Pradesh: Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee while campaigning for Samajwadi Party

    By PTI

    VARANASI: Describing herself as a “fighter”, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday alleged that she was attacked by BJP workers after she arrived for campaigning in Uttar Pradesh in support of the Samajwadi Party.

    “I was coming from the airport yesterday and going to the (Dashashwamedh) ghat. Midway, some BJP workers, who have nothing in their brain except violence, stopped my vehicle. They hit my car, pushed me and told me to go back,” Banerjee claimed.

    “It was then that I thought, they are going out (of power). They are completely gone, their defeat is imminent,” the Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief said.

    Banerjee said she was in Uttar Pradesh for a political meeting and wondered why the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was so bothered about it.

    “I am not a coward, I am a fighter. I have fought for a long time. The CPM attacked me in the past, I was attacked with sticks and shots were fired at me several times in the past. But I never bowed down,” she added.

    Banerjee said when “abuses were being hurled” at her on Wednesday, she got down from the car and stood silent for some time to see what the attackers could do.

    “I wanted to see what you can do. How much strength you have. But you are a coward. I saw it and thanked them. They attacked my car, pushed me. I said thank you because I knew the message is clear that the BJP is losing, why else attack me,” she claimed.

    She said if her coming to Uttar Pradesh once can ensure BJP’s defeat, she would come to the state a thousand times.

    “It’s not so easy, Khela hoga,” Banerjee said, referring to the Hindi variation of the Bangla phrase which was the poll anthem of the TMC in West Bengal elections last year in which it defeated the BJP.

  • Sixth phase of UP polls: Polling begins on 57 Assembly seats, Adityanath among prominent candidates

    By PTI

    LUCKNOW: Voting for the sixth phase of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls began on Thursday morning, with Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and several prominent faces among 676 candidates, who are contesting on 57 seats spread across 10 districts.

    The voting started at 7 am and will continue till 6 pm. Around 2.15 crore people are eligible to vote in this phase. Till now, voting for 292 of the 403 Assembly seats has been completed. The final phase of the elections on the remaining 54 seats will be held on March 7.

    The districts where polling is being held on Thursday are Ambedkar Nagar, Balrampur, Siddharth Nagar, Basti, Sant Kabir Nagar, Maharajganj, Gorakhpur, Kushinagar, Deoria and Ballia.

    Among the 676 candidates in the fray in this phase are CM Yogi Adityanath from Gorakhpur Urban and state Congress president Ajay Kumar Lallu from Tamkuhi Raj seat.

    Swami Prasad Maurya, who was a minister in the Adityanath government and had quit the BJP to join the Samajwadi Party, is contesting from Fazilnagar.

    The Samajwadi Party has pitted the wife of the late Upendra Dutt Shukla, a former BJP leader, against Adityanath.

    Azad Samaj Party founder Chandrashekhar Azad is also contesting against the Uttar Pradesh chief minister from Gorakhpur Urban.

    The Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly and Samajwadi Party leader Ram Govind Chaudhary is contesting from Bansdih.

    Many incumbent ministers’ fate will also be decided in this phase. They include Surya Pratap Shahi from Pathardeva, Satish Chandra Dwivedi from Itwa, Jai Pratap Singh from Bansi, Shree Ram Chauhan from Khajani and Jai Prakash Nishad from Rudrapur.

    The campaigning for this phase witnessed the political parties going for an all-out attack against each other.

    Prime Minister Narendra Modi attacked the BJP’s rivals by tagging them as dynasts, who he claimed can never make India capable or empower Uttar Pradesh.

    Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi rebutted by saying that the BJP is only against her family, which did not bow down before it.

    Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav accused the BJP of hatching a conspiracy of ending reservation and “selling” government entities to the private sector.

    In the 2017 Assembly polls, the BJP had won 46 of the 57 seats.

  • UP elections: Mamata shown black flags in BJP stronghold Varanasi

    Express News Service

    GORAKHPUR: West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, who landed in Varanasi on Wednesday to campaign in support of Samajwadi Party, was shown black flags while on her way to Dashashwamedh ghat from airport.

    As soon as Mamata proceeded to Dashashwamedh ghat, she was faced protests at several places when BJP supporters showed her black flags first in Chetganj locality and then at Godowliya.

    In Chetganj, on seeing the black flags by a crowd shouting Jai Shree Ram, the west bengal CM lost her cool, stopped the car and came out on the road.

    Pushing the protestors, Mamta dared the BJP workers to come forward with black flags. 

    “You all are losing the elections. These are not black flags but your fear of losing elections,” she shouted on the mike.

    The west bengal CM also shouted the slogan : “Jai UP, Jai Hind.”

    Subsequently, as she proceeded further, she was shown black flags at Gowdowliya. However, the district police pushed the protestors aside.

    On getting the information about protests, SP workers gathered at Godowliya crossing in retaliation. Both the groups of protestors came face to face to be sent away by the cops.

    Then Mamata Banerjee reached Dashashwamedh ghat and paid obeisance at Ganga Mandir. She also watched the famous Ganga Arti while sitting on the stairs of the ghat.

    Mamata is expected to address a couple of rallies along with SP chief Akhilesh Yadav in and around Varanasi which will vote in final phase on March 7.

    Mamata is scheduled to stay in Varanasi for the next two days.

    However, in the wake of protests against the west bengal CM, the district administration has beefed up the security.

  • Battle of caste, community & blood ties in Fazilnagar

    Express News Service

    GORAKHPUR:  Filial ties could land Sanghmitra Maurya, BJP MP from Badaun, in trouble. On Monday night Sanghmitra, daughter of BJP turncoat Swami Prasad Maurya, had to leave her father’s door-to-door campaign midway. Sources said she was canvassing for her father “quietly” and was spotted by BJP workers who alerted party leaders in Fazilnagar, the constituency from where Maurya is a Samajwadi Party candidate.

    Fazilnagar will vote along with Gorakhpur in Phase-6 of Assembly polls on March 3. Swami Prasad Maurya is a prominent non-Yadav OBC face in state politics. He is counting on his traditional vote base and that of SP’s core voters. His opponent, BJP’s Surender Singh Kushwaha, is also a prominent OBC face and is son of sitting BJP MLA Ganga Singh Kushwaha. The BJP is banking on the development work done by the Yogi government besides the caste dynamics. 

    However, BSP candidate Mohammad Illyas Ansari, an SP turncoat, has made the election triangular. The BSP has a strong presence in the assembly segment with over 80,000 Dalit and 90,000 Muslim voters. Maurya is wooing the voters over caste census while raising stray cattle menace, lack of health and education facilities and unemployment. He deserted BJP on January 14 to join the SP, after serving as labour minister in the Yogi cabinet for five years. He has now chosen Fazilnagar instead of adjoining stronghold Padrauna where he was believed to be facing strong anti-incumbency. Maurya had representing Padrauna for four terms since 2007. 

    In the fray with an outsider tag (given by rivals), Maurya is depending largely on the caste matrix of the segment with his influence over OBC Maurya-Kushwaha-Shakya-Saini community along with the traditional support base of the SP. BJP nominee Surender Singh Kushwaha too belongs to the OBC community. He comes from Gurwaliya, a village dominated by Kushwahas, in Fazilnagar.

    Both Maurya and Kushwaha have left the voters confused. “It is a difficult election as the fight is between a big name (Maurya) and the local leader of the community,” says Sharad Kushwaha, a farmer. “Though Surender Singh is our own candidate and is always easily available in the hour of need, but Maurya is a big name.” 

    Ram Autar, 65, sounds hopeful saying Maurya is a big OBC leader and he will develop Fazilnagar. The saffron brigade is treating Fazilanagar as a seat of prestige. The BJP often targets Maurya for his ‘betrayal’. Fazilnagar is a small sub-urban pocket of Kushinagar, the land of Lord Budhha who had attained salvation here. Of the 5.5 lakh population, Fazilnagar has an electorate of 3.77 lakh.

    “In 2017, we had voted for Ganga Singh Kushwaha. Now his son is contesting. Both the father and the son have influence over OBC voters. They are promising us to stand by in our happiness and grief. Voters will make a final decision on March 3,” says Jitendra Singh, a grocery shop owner in Babuganj market.

    Compelled to make a tough choice between Maurya and Kushwaha, the voters of Fazilnagar are not ignoring BSP candidate Ilyas Ansari, who quit the Samajwadi Party after he could not get the ticket.The Congress and the AAP has fielded Sunil Singh and Harish Chandra Yadav. For Sarvesh Kumar Maurya, the contest will be tough between BJP and SP. “My choice is clear. I may be belonging to the same caste as Swami Prasad but I cannot overlook the development done by the BJP.” 

  • ‘Dumdaar sarkar’ must for development of UP, only BJP can guarantee it: Yogi Adityanath

    By PTI

    GORAKHPUR/SIDHARTHNAGAR/BALRAMPUR: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday said a ‘dumdaar sarkar’ (strong government) was a must for the all-round development of the state and only a BJP-led dispensation could guarantee it to the people.

    “Yogi will do everything to make your life easier under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” Adityanath said, asserting that he will work for the welfare of all.

    On governments led by other parties, he said the people have been a witness to the workings of three governments led by the Samajwadi Party (SP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the BJP.

    “You must have noticed the difference (among these dispensations). The previous governments failed to provide safety and security to people, risked youths’ lives and looted money meant for development,” the chief minister claimed.

    “Their governance was extremely poor. Whereas we have ensured safety and security of every citizen while carrying out development programmes as well as welfare schemes for the poor and the needy with total transparency. They provided power after looking at people’s faces, while we provide electricity to everyone,” he said.

    Adityanath said his government provided 5 lakh government jobs in the last five years, and if it is elected again, it would give a job to every family.

    He said none of the earlier governments would have built a Ram temple in Ayodhya which was pending for five centuries.

    Continuing his attack against the SP in Siddharthnagar’s Kapilvastu and Domariyaganj constituencies, Adityanath accused the party of sheltering criminals and goons.

    “The SP blatantly supports criminals. It is evident from the fact that the SP leaders visit houses of murderers and not of victims. They do not care about the sufferings of the people,” the chief minister claimed.

    He said his government has made the state safer while ensuring its development and asserted that women and daughters are blessing the BJP in abundance.

    Adityanath greeted the people on the occasion of Maha Shivratri and compared the current situation with that prevailing five years ago, claiming that only riots took place in the past.

    “There are no riots today, only ‘Kanwar Yatra’ passes through the state with chants of ‘Har Har Bum Bum’,” he added.

    The chief minister alleged that for the Samajwadi Party development meant building boundaries of cemeteries but development for the BJP government it meant providing water, power, ration etc at the doorsteps of people.

    “We’ll give smartphones and tablets to two crore youths,” he said.

    Addressing rallies in Tulsipur and Utraula assembly seats of Balrampur, Adityanath said the district was the ‘karmbhoomi’ of the former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and it was touching new heights of development under the BJP government.

    Attacking the SP, he alleged, “The sentiments of our government are with every section of the society but the Samajwadi Party’s support base comprises terrorists.”

    Bulldozers are being used to construct roads as well as to extort money from mafias, he said, adding that when leaders of the SP and the BSP hear about bulldozers they panick.

    “They (opposition) have already made arrangements for their foreign escape on March 11. They have booked their tickets because they know the result. Some (will flee) to England, some to Australia, and the remaining to Nepal,” he claimed, adding that patrolling has been increased on Nepal border and they would not be able to escape.

  • Congress to write to high command on the five suspended Meghalaya MLAs

    By PTI

    SHILLONG: The Congress, which has suspended five MLAs in Meghalaya for lending support to the ruling BJP-led Meghalaya Democratic Alliance, on Tuesday said that it will soon submit a report to the party high command over their failure to reply to the show cause notice served to them.

    Meghalaya PCC chief Vincent H Pala said that the ten days time given to the five MLAs expired on February 24 but they are yet to respond to the show cause. AICC had show caused the five on February 14 for anti-party activity by supporting and joining the BJP-backed MDA government.

    “In view of this, we will meet on March 4 to discuss the matter and accordingly submit a report to the AICC,” he said. The decision on the next course of action will be taken by AICC, Pala said. After the Congress MLAs were suspended, CLP leader Ampareen Lyngdoh had stated that the five MLAs would take a collective decision on the matter.

    When contacted she said, “We will revert to you in 12 days.” Sources said that the suspended MLAs have already decided not to respond to the show cause notice as they have made up their minds to seek re-election from other political parties.

    Four out of five other MLAs have been given government appointments. PT Sawkmie and Mohendro Rapsang have been appointed co-chairmen of Meghalaya New and Renewable Energy Development Agency and Mayralborn Syiem was appointed co-chairman of Meghalaya Industrial Development Corporation.

    Kimfa Marbaniang has been made co-chairman of Meghalaya Government Construction Company, according to a notification issued last week. Congress had won an impressive 12 seats in the 60-member house but seven of them, led by former chief minister Mukul Sangma, had quit the party and joined Trinamool Congress in November last year.