News Analysis India

Tag: BJP

  • Much at stake in U.P. final rounds

    Express News Service

    VARANASI:  With five phases of UP polls over, the stage is set for a more fierce battle to win the Purvanchal — the eastern fort — in the sixth and seventh phases on March 3 and 7, respectively. With voters having sealed the fate of candidates in over 290 seats spread across 58 districts of UP, Purvanchal has the remaining 111 seats up for grabs in the two final phases covering CM Yogi Adityanath’s bastion of Gorakhpur and Modi’s stronghold of Varanasi besides Azamgarh, the pocketborough of Yadav clan.

    With no palpable wave in favour of any particular party in more or less a bipolar contest between the BJP and the SP, the final phases are expected to witness the presence of Bahujan Samaj Party in some pockets, giving a triangular flavour to the poll battle.

    In the 1990s, eastern UP witnessed the emergence of players like SP and BSP which had woven their discourse around ‘social justice’. Both the SP and BSP stalwarts — Mulayam Singh Yadav and Kanshi Ram respectively— succeeded in convincing the OBCs and SCs that the respective parties would improve their condition. However, failing to adhere to their ideologies firmly, with passage of time, bahubalis or mafia dons started calling the shots in the political landscape of eastern UP.

    However, during the last five years, the might of bahubalis has seen some depletion due to the re-alignment of communities in favour of the parties of their choice. The Pasmanda Ansari Muslims, who basically belong to weavers’ community thriving in districts like Mau, Varanasi, Mirzapur, Bhadohi and Azamgarh, are still in search of a party that can provide them development. They sound divided over voting for their traditional identity-related party, the SP, which has angered them for not being given representation in tickets allocation this time.

    The issues like stray cattle, price rise and unemployment are ringing in the ground only for those who have decided to vote for a change. Local problems do not have that much of an impact on the ground. Development, law and order and the benefit of welfare schemes seem to have slightly higher resonance on the ground.

    Moreover, in some places, polarisation against the Muslim-Yadav combination, which can be seen consolidating firmly in favour of Samajwadi Party across the state, is imminent. In 2017, BJP had won 75 of the 111 seats in the region, its allies Apna Dal (S) had won 5 and Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP), which opened its account in alliance with saffron brigade, walked away with four seats. SP had won 13, BSP 11 and Congress could bag just one seat. 

    Big rallies being addressed by PM Modi himself coupled with those addressed by Amit Shah and Yogi Adityanath, in this region influence the voters. While Adityanath and Shah are reassuring the voters to take development and law and order to even higher notches, Modi is striking an emotional connect in a style quintessential to him.

    However, the popularity of PM Modi fails to move the voters in Azamgarh, which was won by Mulayam Singh Yadav despite the Modi wave in 2014 followed by Akhilesh Yadav in 2019. Here the BJP could won just one seat of Phulpur Pawai out of 10 Assembly segments. Rest nine assembly seats were taken away by SP (5) and BSP(4).

    The BSP had a strong base here in the late 1980s and 1990s and was the biggest challenger to the Modi wave in 2014 by coming second in 34 UP Lok Sabha constituencies — many of them in eastern UP. The party, relatively silent this time with depleted leadership strength, is banking upon the support of Muslims and non-Jatav Dalits, smaller sub-castes and the Brahmins among the upper castes. Mayawati is again betting on the Brahmin-Muslim-Dalit combination which had won her power in 2007.

    The remaining stretch of the UP campaign in Purvanchal is a no-holds barred fight between the three principal players. Much is at stake for every political party and its leaders: the political survival of the BSP and of Mayawati, the credibility of Akhilesh Yadav and performance of the saffron camp and PM Modi.

    Modi and Yogi hold the fort for BJPYogi Adityanath’s influence is strong in the region from Balrampur to Gorakhpur thanks to Hindutva politics. PM Modi’s presence in Varanasi helps the BJP in the adjoining districts. While Adityanath and Shah are reassuring the voters to take development and law and order to even higher notches, Modi is striking an emotional connect

  • BSP’s list of candidates for UP polls resembles ‘Muslim league’, says Adityanath

    By PTI

    GORAKHPUR/DEORIA: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday accused the opposition of playing politics of “appeasement” and alleged that the Bahujan Samaj Party’s list of candidates for the state polls resembled a “Muslim league”.

    Addressing a series of meetings in the poll-bound state, he said the opposition parties are spreading hatred among communities to increase their votebank.

    “While the Samajwadi Party’s (SP) candidate list gives a clear message that the party is not ready to leave criminals, goons and rioters, the Bahujan Samaj Party’s (BSP) list of candidates resembles a ‘Muslim league’. This proves that they will not give equal representation to all sections and regions,” he said during public meetings at Pathardeva, Salempur and Rudrapur assembly constituencies in Deoria.

    Targeting the alleged appeasement policy of the Samajwadi Party, Adityanath said under the earlier regime, electricity was provided on the occasions of Eid-Bakrid, while there were power cuts during Holi and Deepawali in the state.

    “For the first time, government schemes are reaching every individual in the state under the BJP government,” he said.

    The chief minister further said people have rejected the “hardcore dynasts” and ‘lotus’ (BJP election symbol) is sure to bloom at every booth of Gorakhpur.

    Addressing an election rally in Pipraich assembly constituency, he termed it as “futile” to trust the opportunist leaders who keep changing friends with every election, referring to SP-BSP and SP-Congress alliances in earlier elections in the state.

    “Our government’s sentiments are with every section of the society, but SP’s support base is with terrorists. The previous Samajwadi Party government was the first to withdraw terror cases,” he alleged.

    Claiming that all-around development has been done by his government in the state, the BJP leader said, “If our double engine government comes to power again, all women of over 60 years of age can travel for free in state-run buses.”

    He also emphasised the fact that no riots took place in the state under his governance, nor did women or businessmen suffered harassment.

    “We did what we said. We also promise to provide government jobs or employment to one youth of every family in the next five years,” he added.

    At another election meeting in Deoria, Adityanath accused the opposition parties of “doing politics of appeasement and spreading hatred among communities to increase their votebank”, adding that their candidate lists reflect their “vested interests”.

    Reiterating that SP and BSP’s rule was synonymous with anarchy, terror and hooliganism, he said, “Whenever they (SP, BSP) ruled, riots took place. No riots took place in the last five years, while 700 riots took place during SP government and 364 riots during BSP’s rule.”

    The Uttar Pradesh chief minister added that the BJP has attained an inaccessible lead in the first five phases of the ongoing assembly polls and the party is poised well to hit a ‘sixer’ in the final phases to romp home with 300-plus seats.

  • UP polls: Akhilesh Yadav as CM protected terrorists, alleges Nadda

    By PTI

    MIRZAPUR/JAUNPUR: BJP president J P Nadda on Monday alleged that Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav protected terrorists during his tenure as the CM of Uttar Pradesh, which is witnessing a rule of law today.

    After 2017, the BJP government has taken strict action against such elements, he said.

    “It is the rule of law in the state now and not that of a family or an individual,” Nadda said addressing an election rally in Mirzapur.

    “Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav, during his tenure as the (Uttar Pradesh) chief minister, used to give protection to terrorists, withdraw cases against them and embrace them,” Nadda alleged.

    The BJP president also accused Yadav of instigating people by calling the Covid vaccine as the “BJP vaccine”.

    However, he did not stop from taking the jab when needed, Nadda said.

    In Jaunpur, the BJP president claimed, “The leaders of no party other than the BJP have the courage to go among people with the report card of their work as they have done what they had promised.”

    “If there is any party that cares for the poor, underprivileged, oppressed, exploited, women, youth and farmers, it is the BJP,” he said.

    The BJP president also elaborated on the development work undertaken in the area during the BJP government and spoke about various welfare schemes while seeking support for NDA candidates in Mirzapur and Jaunpur in the ongoing Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls.

  • BJP not against any dynasty but my family: Priyanka Gandhi

    By PTI

    KUSHINAGAR: On a day Prime Minister Narendra Modi targeted political “dynasts” during electioneering in Uttar Pradesh, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Monday said the BJP was only against her family, which has not bowed down to it.

    The Congress general secretary’s sharp rebuttal came during an election programme in the Tamkuhi Raj area of Kushinagar district where she campaigned for her party candidates ahead of the March 3 assembly polls.

    In his speech in Maharajganj, PM Modi had called out “ghor pariwarvadis” (staunch dynasts) in an attack aimed at the Samajwadi Party.

    In the same speech, Modi gave several examples to stress “how dynasts cared only for their family interests” while the BJP worked for the welfare of the poor and deprived sections of the society.

    While addressing an election rally in Kushinagar, Priyanka Gandhi said, “They talk of the dynasty when all the children of politicians have moved to their own party! Which dynasty were they against or abstaining from?” 

    “They were against only my family because my family will never bow down to them. They know this that even if they kill us, we are neither going to compromise with the BJP nor bow down to them,” she added.

    Her remark comes in the wake of several prominent second-generation politicians like Jyotiraditya Scindia, Jitin Prasada, R P N Singh switching over to the BJP from the Congress in recent times.

    During her speech, Priyanka Gandhi also said she was being targeted with allegations of being linked to terrorism despite her father Rajiv Gandhi and grandmother Indira Gandhi, both former prime ministers, sacrificing their lives for the country.

    “Identify the leaders who laid their lives for the country. The leaders whom these people call terrorists. Fingers are raised at my family, they say we are connected with terrorism,” she rued.

    And then she asserted, “I said yes, I am linked with terrorism because my father was shot dead by terrorists, my grandmother was assassinated by terrorists.”

    “My father and grandmother lost their lives for this country and they, who are selling all public properties and running a government for big industrialists, today they are pointing fingers at them,” she added.

    Priyanka Gandhi, who is leading the electoral battle in Uttar Pradesh for the Congress, which is contesting the state polls solo after three decades, said her party was concerned about the UP and the country.

    “This is why when we come to the people, we speak the truth and say it from our hearts. I say from the heart because I care about you, I am worried for this state and the country,” she said.

    “My ancestors and your ancestors, the forefathers of the people of this state got India her freedom. Was the freedom earned, development done, institutions raised so that one day these people could sell the country? So that the youth of the country would be jobless and without any support,” she said.

    Citing examples of freebies doled out by the BJP-led governments in the state and in the Centre, the Congress leader claimed it was a deliberate effort to keep the people disempowered and dependent on the government.

    She said voting is a right granted to people by the Constitution and a means to bring about a change in political discourse.

    Kushinagar goes to the polls on March 3 along with nine more districts of eastern UP.

    The election results will be declared on March 10.

  • 2024 Lok Sabha polls: Amid efforts to unite non-BJP parties, KCR leaves for Delhi

    By PTI

    HYDERABAD: Against the backdrop of a recent meeting with political strategist Prashant Kishor and ongoing efforts to bring together different parties against the BJP’s alleged anti-people policies, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Monday left for Delhi.

    Rao left for Delhi on a visit, an official release said.

    However, it did not provide further details.

    It is expected that Rao may confer with leaders of like-minded parties during his stay in the national capital.

    Rao’s visit comes against the backdrop of a meeting here with Kishor during the last couple of days and also his recent meetings with Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and NCP chief Sharad Pawar in Mumbai.

    Rao, who has been critical of the BJP and the Centre on a number of issues, had said he will hold meetings with his Maharashtra and West Bengal counterparts as part of efforts to unite various political parties against the BJP and the NDA government.

    Addressing a public meeting in Siddipet district on February 23, Rao had said he is moving in the direction of influencing national politics and that he would use all his abilities to set the things right in the country, “even by shedding the last drop of blood”.

  • ‘Congress fails to see the reality’: Dhami says BJP will form government at Uttarakhand

    By Express News Service

    DEHRADUN: Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has expressed his confidence for the Bhartiya Janta Party to achieve majority in 70-member state legislative assembly to form the government. 

    “We are going to form government in Uttarakhnd as people have expressed their confidence in the BJP. The Congress is blinded and fails to see the reality but they are going to shrink to 10 or less seats,” said Chief Minister Dhami.

    This comes after multiple statements of former CM Harish Rawat about Congress winning 45 plus seats.

    “We are confident of winning 45-48 seats and forming the government. The people of Uttarakhand have seen through the BJP’s lies and deciet. We are winning and are committed to work towards realizing the dreams of the people of the state, ” said Rawat had said. 

    Rawat said that he will request Sonia Gandhi to take a call on the chief ministerial candidate. 

    He also added that the Indian National Congress is going to form the government in four out of five election bound state. 

    This came after his earlier statement in which he stated that either he would be the CM of Uttarakhand or sit at home.

    Insiders say that a tussle within the Indian National Congress has started regarding the CM face.

    Pritam Singh, former state president of the party responding to the queries related to the position said that the CM face will be decided by the party high command.

    Meanwhile, Rawat had also added that the party has started laying out plans to run the goverment and few decisions will be taken immediately in the first cabinet.

    Uttarakhand went for polls on February 14 for 70 state assembly constituencies in its fifth assembly elections.

    Counting will take place on March 10 to ascertain the results of the elections. 

  • BJP delegation meets Jharkhand Governor for appointing Babulal Marandi as leader of opposition

    By PTI

    RANCHI: A delegation of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday met Jharkhand Governor Ramesh Bais and submitted a memorandum seeking his intervention in appointing Babulal Marandi as leader of Opposition in the 81-member state assembly.

    Former Jharkhand chief minister Babulal Marandi was on February 24, 2020 unanimously elected as leader of the BJP Legislative Party.

    Marandi had on February 17, 2020 merged his Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) (JVM-P) party with the BJP at a formal merger ceremony in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Ranchi.

    The delegation led by party state president and parliamentarian Deepak Prakash informed the Governor that the BJP legislative party leader Babulal Marandi has not been accorded the status of leader of opposition even after two years.

    Talking to media persons, Prakash said, “Bharatiya Janata Party has unanimously elected the first Chief Minister of the state and Rajdhanwar legislator Babulal Marandi as the legislative party leader. But it is unfortunate for the state that even after a gap of more than two years Marandi has not been given the status of leader of opposition by the Speaker of the Assembly.”

    Prakash alleged that the Speaker is not taking decisions at the behest of the state government. “This government does not want to run the house by constitutional procedures but like a dictator, he alleged.

    Jharkhand BJP has been demanding Babulal Marandi, a former JVM-P chief who joined BJP after 2019 assembly elections, to be declared as leader of opposition.

    The saffron party had not elected its Legislative Party leader after the state polls in November-December 2019.

    With the arrival of Marandi, the BJP’s number has swelled to 26 in the Jharkhand Assembly.

    The ruling JMM-Congress-RJD has a combined strength of 47 in the House.

    The ongoing Budget session of the Jharkhand Assembly that started on February 25 will continue till March 25.

  • UP polls: Smriti Irani rakes up Sidhu’s ‘Pakistan Link’, lashes out at Congress

    By PTI

    KUSHINAGAR: Union minister Smriti Irani accused the Congress on Sunday of colluding with those who had killed innocent people.

    Addressing an election meeting in Kushinagar, Irani hit out at Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, saying she made Navjot Singh Sidhu, who had embraced Pakistan’s army chief and said Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan is his brother, the president of the Punjab Congress.

    “If the Gandhi family has the courage, it should refute my allegations,” she added.

    In an apparent reference to Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik, who has been arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with a money-laundering case, Irani alleged that the Congress is shielding a person who has links with underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, who was involved in the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts.

    Taking a jibe at the “ladki hoon, lad sakti hoon” (I am a girl and I can fight) slogan of the Congress for the ongoing Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls, the Union minister for women and child development said the boat of the grand old party is sinking and it has handed over the charge of the sinking boat to women.

    “They emerge as chunavjeevi at the time of elections and come up with a new formula, some times in the name of caste, some times in the name of religion,” she said.

    Irani alleged that during the COVID-19 crisis, the Congress, the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) were nowhere to be seen.

    “It was the BJP that went from house to house distributing masks and ration. Priyanka is sad over the fact that ration was distributed among poor people. Had there been an SP-BSP government, would the poor have got the ration?” she asked the gathering.

    Taking a jibe at the SP, the Union minister said, “Those who had once fired bullets on the devotees of Lord Ram are telling people that Lord Krishna comes in their dreams. I would like to tell them that in kalyug, Lord Krishna will never come to save criminals. God never sides with those who give shelter to people insulting women.”

    Referring to the Gandhis, she said a member of a family that had once said there was no Ram is moving from one temple to another wearing the sacred thread.

    Kushinagar is scheduled to go to polls in the sixth round of the seven-phase Uttar Pradesh election on March 3.

  • BJP faces multi-cornered contest in phase one of Manipur polls

    Express News Service

    Imphal: The stakes are high for the ruling BJP as it faces a multi-cornered contest when 38 of Manipur’s 60 seats go to first of two-phase elections on Monday. Twenty-nine of the seats are spread across three Imphal Valley districts and the nine others lie in three hill districts. The BJP and the Congress had won 18 and 16 of these seats respectively in 2017.The elections will be fought against the backdrop of allegations by Congress and the National People’s Party (NPP) that the BJP used tribal militants to threaten the voters in some hill districts. The Congress had on Saturday petitioned the Election Commission demanding immediate action as the banned Kuki National Organisation, which is a conglomerate of militant groups, openly committed its support to the BJP.Over the past two months or so, there have been a series of poll-related violence. The father of NPP’s Andro candidate was fired upon by suspected militants. He escaped with injuries. The BJP clearly has an edge over others but it suffered a virtual split due to ticket-related issues. A number of its leaders, including MLAs, deserted the party after missing the poll bus. They are contesting the polls on the tickets of Congress, NPP and Janata Dal (United).The people on the streets of Imphal Valley say the BJP’s prospects dimmed as it deprived tickets to some deserving candidates. Some, with their eyes fixed on the chief minister’s chair, allegedly favoured their loyalists looking at the post-poll scenario when the support of the MLAs will be crucial in the selection of the CM face. The one who enjoys the support of more MLAs will stand to gain.The BJP is more visible compared to other parties but the general perception is that the polls will throw up a fractured mandate as in 2017. In that election, the BJP had won 21 seats compared to the then ruling Congress’ 28 but managed to cobble up the numbers and formed a coalition government. Now, the BJP and the NPP have fallen apart. In the event of a hung House, the BJP is expected to seek the support of ally Naga People’s Front and JD (U).As for the Congress, despite being hit hard by the defections of half of its MLAs, mostly to the BJP, over the past five years, the party’s 13-14 MLAs are likely to get re-elected. One party to watch out for this election will be the NPP. It is expected to give the BJP and the Congress a run for their money in a number of seats if the “threats” issued to some NPP candidates and workers by the militants are anything to go by.In 2017, the NPP had contested nine seats and won four. All four MLAs were inducted into the ministry for the party’s support of the BJP. Buoyed by that success, the NPP is contesting 39 seats this election.The JD (U) is also dreaming big after several BJP leaders, including some sitting and former MLAs, and retired bureaucrats joined its ranks. Unlike in the past, people are now talking about the party.The BJP is hoping to retain power by playing the development card. But unemployment and alleged corruption in the government are major poll issues. Then there are the issues of price rise, black marketing of urea, lack of infrastructure etc in the hill districts.Total seats: 60First phase seats: 38Voters-12,22,713Male voters-5,93,262Female voters-6,29,276Transgenders-175Candidates 173, including 15 womenBJP-38, Congress-35, JD(U)-28, NPP-27, Shiv Sena-7, RPI(A)-6, NCP-6, LJP-3, Kuki People’s Alliance-2, Kuki National Assembly-1, CPI-1 and Independents-18Prominent candidates: Chief Minister N Biren Singh (BJP), Speaker Yumnam Khemchand Singh (BJP), senior minister Thongam Biswajit Singh (BJP), former Congress chief Konthoujam Govindas (BJP), Deputy CM Yumnam Joykumar Singh (NPP), former minister Nemcha Kipgen (BJP), Congress president N Loken Singh, Sheikh Noorul Hassan (NPP)

  • Bulldozer Baba zindabad: BJP workers greet Yogi during his roadshow in Prayagraj

    By PTI

    PRAYAGRAJ: BJP supporters greeted Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath with the slogan of “Bulldozer Baba zindabad” as he held his roadshow here on Friday in support of his Cabinet colleague Sidharth Nath Singh’s candidature from City (West) assembly seat.

    Nearly two-km-long roadshow of the chief minister starting from Karbala Chauraha and ending at Nakhash Kona Chauraha of the city was attended by “lakhs” of people, eyewitnesses said.

    During the entire roadshow, which started at 5 pm and ended at 6 pm, people carrying the BJP’s saffron flags rent the air with slogans of “Jai Shri Ram” and Bulldozer Baba Zindabad”.

    The new term for the chief minister was first heard from Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav, who, in a YouTube video, has claimed that a prestigious English daily has changed Yogi Adityanath’s name to Baba Bulldozer.

    The term purportedly owes its origin to the extensive use of bulldozers by the Uttar Pradesh government for demolishing illegal properties of criminals in the state.

    The roadshow interestingly began near a place where Adityanath had done the ‘bhumi pujan’ for a residential complex for common people on a piece of land acquired by the state government from the possession of former MP Atique Ahmed.

    The roadshow was led by over half a dozen horse-mounted BJP workers carrying the party’s saffron flags, followed by other party workers beating drums and blowing trumpets.

    A tableau of Lord Ram, his wife Sita and Lord Hanuman too formed part of the roadshow with a large number of women marching along and the people showering flower petals from their rooftops on Chief Minister Adityanath and party’s candidate Siddharth Nath Singh.

    The event also had some tense moments as a convoy of Samajwadi Party candidate Richa Singh and her supporters sought to crossed its path with the roadshow route, resulting in some angry exchanges between supporters of the two parties.

    The police, however, managed to control the situation by diverting the SP candidate’s convoy to an alternative route.

    After the completion of the roadshow, the chief minister urged people to vote for the BJP to ensure that the state continued to be ruled by a “double-engine” government and continue progressing at a fast pace.

    The assembly segments of the Prayagraj district go to the polls on February 27 during the fifth phase of the state assembly elections, the electioneering for which ended Friday.