News Analysis India

Tag: Samajwadi Party

  • UP election: RLD promises 50 per cent quota for women in government jobs, scrapping farm laws

    By Express News Service

    LUCKNOW:  Maintaining that seat sharing with the Samajwadi Party will be finalised shortly, Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) president Jayant Chaudhary released his party’s 22-point sankalp patra (statement of vows) for the Uttar Pradesh polls.

    One crore jobs, 150% of cost as MSP to potato farmers (same MSP to cane farmers in the first season), a three-fold hike in old age pension and Rs 1 crore for every martyr (army and police personnel) formed the mainstays of the Sankalp Patra, which was released in Lucknow on Sunday.

    The payment to cane farmers, which would be equal to 1.5 times of the production cost in the first season would be made in 14 days.

    Another major sop was 50% reservation for women in government jobs.

    The RLD, which has been dominant in western UP but saw its presence shrunk to just one seat in 2017, also announced a sports policy, jobs to one crore youth, Rs 4 lakh assistance to every family ravaged by the pandemic, doctor in every village and medicines for every family and scholarships for the backward castes students.

    The Sankalp Patra also promised to set up separate HC benches in eastern UP, western UP and Bundelkhand, besides the promise of passing resolution against the three new farm laws.

    “We’re in talks with Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav and very soon the best seat sharing formula will be sorted out unanimously,” Chaudhary said. 

  • Political parties of same ideology must join hands for UP polls: Shivpal Yadav 

    By PTI

    GHAZIABAD: Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohiya) president Shivpal Singh Yadav on Sunday, October 31, 2021, urged all political parties that share the same ideology to join hands for the 2022 Uttar Pradesh assembly polls.

    He said forming an alliance with the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party would be his priority.

    He was addressing mediapersons in Ghaziabad where he arrived as part of his Samajik Parivartan Rath Yatra.

    He also said private sector reservation must be provided to backwards castes, Dalits, Muslims and the upper caste poor, according to a party statement issued by its national spokesman Nahar Singh.

    He also attacked the BJP governments in the state and at the Centre alleging they are busy in changing names and aiding the corporate sector.

    The government is deliberately privatising public sector undertakings which would adversely impact the poor class, he said.

    He also attacked the government over the farmers’ protest, claiming the government is not paying any heed to the demands of the agitating farmers.

    He also raised the issue of inflation, saying the skyrocketing prices of fuel and cooking gas have made the life of poor and ordinary class people difficult.

  • SP MLA resigns from UP Assembly alleging non-fulfilment of promises by Yogi government

    By PTI

    LUCKNOW: Rakesh Pratap Singh, Samajwadi Party (SP) MLA from Gauriganj constituency in Amethi, on Sunday tendered his resignation from the Uttar Pradesh Assembly, alleging non-fulfilment of promises by the state’s BJP government.

    Speaking to PTI, Singh said, “Today I met Speaker of UP Legislative Assembly Hriday Narayan Dixit and tendered my resignation.”

    Accusing the BJP government of peddling lies, Singh said he had raised some demands and the government had assured him of fulfilling them. However, the demands were not fulfilled.

    When contacted, Speaker Dixit told PTI, “MLA Rakesh Pratap Singh met me today and submitted his resignation letter. The matter will be examined as per rules and a decision will be taken.”

    He sat on an ‘anshan’ (protest fast) at the Mahatma Gandhi statue in the state capital.

    “The government is speaking lies. Hence, there is no point in sitting in the House. Officials are weakening the democratic system and do not follow the directions of the elected government,” he alleged.

    Mentioning the repair of two damaged roads in his constituency, Singh said, “On February 25, the government assured the House that the damaged roads will be repaired within three months, but the work has not started till now.”

    “On October 2, I submitted a memorandum to the District Magistrate of Amethi that if the repair of the two roads does not start, I will resign from the membership of the UP Legislative Assembly and sit on an anshan. But despite this the work did not start,” he added.

    Uttar Pradesh goes to Assembly polls early next year.

  • Six rebel BSP MLAs and one BJP MLA join Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh

    By Express News Service

    LUCKNOW: In a significant development in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh, seven legislators including a ruling BJP MLA and six suspended BSP MLAs joined the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party in Lucknow on Saturday.

    The seven MLAs who joined the SP in the presence of the party president are BJP MLA Rakesh Rathore (Sitapur Sadar) and six suspended BSP MLAs – Aslam Raini (Bhinga), Mujtaba Siddiqui (Partapur) Aslam Ali Chaudhary (Dhalauna), Hakim Lal Bind (Handia), Sushma Patel (Mungra Badshahpur) and Hargovind Bhargava (Sidhauli).

    All the six BSP MLAs had been suspended after they had opposed the nomination of the Mayawati-led party’s official candidate in the Rajya Sabha polls last year.

    The seven MLAs had been in touch with the SP president for long and their entry into the party was on expected lines. Two more rebel BSP leaders and ex-UP ministers Lalji Verma and Ramachal Rajbhar had on Monday announced that they will join the SP at a rally in Ambedkar Nagar district on November 7.

    The seven MLAs joined the SP just a day after the powerful father-son duo of Congress leaders from West UP Harendra Malik and Pankaj Malik joined the SP. While Harendra Malik is a former Congress MP, his son Pankaj Malik is a former Congress MLA.

    Harendra Malik has also been Congress national general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s advisor for West UP.

  • As SBSP cozies up to Akhilesh, BJP bags support of seven parties ahead of UP polls

    By PTI

    LUCKNOW: A group of seven small parties have announced support to the BJP in the upcoming assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh, close on the heels of the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) forming an alliance with the Samajwadi Party.

    SP and SBSP leaders had shared the dais in Mau on Wednesday and announced that they would together trounce the BJP in the 2022 elections.

    The SBSP, the main constituent of the ‘Bhagidari Sankalp Morcha’, and the SP will hold eight rallies in the state in November and these rallies will be addressed by SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, SBSP president Om Prakash Rajbhar told PTI in Ballia on Thursday.

    Meanwhile, the ‘Hissedari Morcha’ comprising seven small parties on Wednesday had announced its support to the BJP in the assembly elections, according to a statement issued by the saffron party.

    Leaders of the seven parties on Wednesday had handed letters to state BJP president Swatantra Dev Singh extending their support.

    The leaders include Kewat Ramdhani Bind of the Bharatiya Manav Samaj Party, Chandra Vanvasi of the Musahar Andolan Manch and Babulal Rajbhar of the Shoshit Samaj Party.

    Others are Krishna Gopal Singh Kashyap of the Manav Hit Party, Bhim Rajbhar of the Bharatiya Suheldev Janata Party, Chandan Singh Chauhan of the Prithviraj Janshakti Party and Mahendra Prajapati of the Bharatiya Samata Samaj Party.

    In the 2017 assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, the BJP had stitched an alliance with the SBSP.

    The latter was given eight seats of which it won four.

    Though Om Prakash Rajbhar was made a minister in the Uttar Pradesh government, he broke the alliance before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and formed the ‘Bhagidari Sankalp Morcha’, roping in the All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul Muslimeen (AIMIM) led by Asaduddin Owaisi and some other smaller parties.

    On rumours of a rift with AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi, Rajbhar said he had spoken to the latter and requested him to join the newly-formed alliance.

    “Owaisi has assured that he will talk to his people in this regard and inform me about his decision,” Rajbhar said.

    Leaders of the other constituents of the ‘Bhagidari Sankalp Morcha’ — Bhim Army, Jan Adhikar Party, Rashtriya Uday Party, Rashtriya Upekshit Samaj Party and Janata Kranti Party — too did not attend the SP-SBSP rally on Wednesday.

    The SBSP president claimed that he entered into a coalition with the SP on the advice of Owaisi, Shivpal Singh Yadav of Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia) and Chandrashekhar Azad of the Azad Samaj Party.

    Rajbhar had earlier said that the Bhagidari Sankalp Morcha would announce its future course of action on October 27, the SBSP’s foundation day.

    However, the absence of the Morcha’s prominent leaders in Mau on Wednesday has led to speculations of the Sankalp Morcha falling apart with the coming together of the SP and the SBSP.

  • Mission 2022: Samajwadi-SBSP alliance to upset BJP’s applecart in Uttar Pradesh elections

    By Express News Service

    VARANASI:  Targeting to ruin ruling BJP’s plan of bettering its 2017 assembly polls performance in Purvanchal during 2022 assembly polls, the newly stitched red and yellow alliance of Samajwadi Party (SP) and Suheldeo Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP) gave on Wednesday the slogan of ‘Khadera Hobe’ to defeat the saffron party.

    Inspired by Mamata Banerjee’s 2021 West Bengal assembly polls winning ‘Khela Hobe’ slogan, SP chief and ex-UP CM Akhilesh Yadav and SBSP chief Om Prakash Rajbhar, designed ‘Khadera Hobe’ (chase-off) to spoil BJP’s plans in East UP. Purvanchal houses maximum 156 out of the 403 assembly seats in the politically crucial state.

    The Mahapanchayat (first show of strength by the new alliance) at the Haldarpur Ground in Mau district of East UP marked the 19th Foundation Day of the SBSP.  The SBSP represents the interests of the most backward Rajbhar caste that is in significant numbers in 30-40 seats of Varanasi and Ballia region.

    Making light of October 25 inauguration of nine medical colleges (seven of which are in East UP) by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the SP chief said: “These nine medical colleges are shining from outside, but behind the curtains they are hollow, as they all are bereft of beds, doctors and medicines. Never forget how during the covid pandemic, the absence of hospitals, beds, medicines, doctors and oxygen claimed the lives of your dear ones.”

    Wearing the yellow scarf of SBSP (while the SBSP chief wore the SP’s red cap) the ex-UP CM also accused the Yogi Adityanath government of stalling road and other projects of erstwhile SP government in East UP’s Ballia and Salempur.

    Rajbhar promised that once the government led by Yadav came to power, SBSP’s promises, including total ban on alcohol and waiving off of domestic electricity bills and rendering days off to every cop after eight duty days would be fulfilled. Rajbhar was a minister in Yogi Adityanath government before parting ways with BJP ahead of 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

    RJD may contest some seats in tie-up with SP

    Bihar’s main opposition, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), is set to contest the UP polls on a few seats in alliance with the Samajwadi Party (SP), party sources said.

    Till the previous 2017 polls, the RJD supported candidates in eastern Uttar Pradesh, which shares borders with Bihar’s Gopalganj – the native district of RJD chief Lalu Prasad. RJD sources said the party is considering fielding its candidates in at least 15 seats in eastern UP.

    RJD chief Lalu Prasad and his younger son Tejashwi Yadav, who is the leader of the opposition in Bihar Assembly, will campaign not for RJD candidates but also for the SP.

    When asked about the possibility of RJD fielding candidates in UP, party spokesperson Chitranjan Gagan affirmed that the party was considering an alliance with the SP.

    “The RJD supported the SP till the last assembly elections in 2017 and the LS elections in 2019. But now, it is being felt that the party should also field its candidates on some seats allying with the SP,” Gagan said. When asked if Lalu would try to form a strong opposition, Gagan said his party always believed that all non-BJP parties should come together. Other Bihar parties like the Hindustan Awami Morcha and the Vikasheel Inssan Party and the JD-U have also announced their participation in the UP polls, either in alliance with BJP or independently. –Rajesh Kumar Thakur

  • Uttar Pradesh assembly polls: Samajwadi Party-SBSP announce alliance, say people will drive out BJP

    By PTI

    MAU: The Samajwadi Party and the Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party on Wednesday announced their alliance for the 2022 Uttar Pradesh assembly polls and gave the slogan ‘Khadeda Howe’, a call to “drive out” the BJP from the state.

    The slogan is on the lines of ‘Khela Hobe’ (game on), which was coined by the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress for the West Bengal assembly polls that saw the party defeat the BJP and storm back to power for a third consecutive term.

    “Slogan ‘Khela Hobe’ was given in West Bengal and ‘didi’ drove out the BJP from the state. Similarly, in Uttar Pradesh it will be ‘Khadeda Howe’ (drive out) and the BJP government will be removed by the people of the state,” Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP) president Om Prakash Rajbhar said here.

    He was addressing a ‘Vanchit, Pichhda, Dalit and Minority Bhagidari Mahapanchyat’, during which Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav announced the alliance between the two parties for the assembly polls.

    “When BJP leaders come to your village, you should ask them about price rise and then ask them to leave,” Rajbhar said.

    Yadav said Rajbhar has rightly said that in Uttar Pradesh ‘Khadeda Howe’.

    When red and yellow colours of the SP and the SBSP unite, everyone knows who is becoming ‘laal-pila’ (angry) in Delhi and Lucknow, the SP chief said in a reference to the BJP governments at the Centre and in the state.

    “Rajbhar will close the door through which the BJP came to power (in Uttar Pradesh) and SP workers will lock it,” he said.

    “There was speculation before the alliance about which party will win how many seats. But after the alliance, even big agencies are saying no one can stop us,” Yadav said.

  • Akhilesh replies to ‘cycle of corruption’ barb with ‘flower of loot’ dig at BJP

    By PTI

    LUCKNOW: In a riposte to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “cycle of corruption” barb directed at the previous SP government in Uttar Pradesh, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday mocked the BJP’s election symbol ‘lotus’ by calling it the “flower of loot”.

    Yadav, in a tweet in Hindi, said, “Earlier, thousands of crores of rupees were put in the bank accounts of the poor by previous governments, but now the ‘flower of lies’ is deceiving people round the clock by becoming the ‘flower of loot’.”

    “Today, the priority of the BJP government at the Centre and in UP is to pickpocket the poor and snatch the basic facilities,” the former chief minister added.

    His remarks came a day after Modi had accused the previous government in UP of neglecting health facilities in the state and only “filling its coffer”.

    In Siddharthnagar on Monday, Modi picked on the previous Samajwadi Party government in the state — not mentioning Yadav’s party by name but mocking its election symbol, a bicycle.

    “Corruption in medicines, ambulances, appointments, transfers and postings. In this entire game, some dynasts in UP flourished,” he charged.

    “The cycle of corruption ran 24 hours but the ordinary families in Purvanchal and UP got crushed,” he had said.

    A few hours later, Yadav accused the BJP government of launching projects when the election was only months away.

    “The BJP is feeding the flower of lies in the quagmire of deceit,” he had said while hitting out at the saffron party.

    On Tuesday, the SP chief tweeted a picture of a hoarding featuring him with a slogan “main aa raha hun” (I am coming back).

    Yadav who launched “Samajik Parivartan Yatra” early this month has been claiming that the party along with its some regional allies would throw the BJP out of power in the 2022 assembly elections.

  • SP cites ‘order’ issued by Varanasi DM asking health department staff to watch PM’s programme

    By PTI

    VARANASI: The Samajwadi Party (SP) on Monday cited a purported order issued by the Varanasi district magistrate, instructing the health workers to watch Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s programme in the district over television and other modes.

    Chief Medical Officer Dr BB Singh said there was an order from the above for all health workers to be present at their workplace during the prime minister’s function and listen to his programme.

    This included doctors, paramedical staff and the Ayush department staff.

    Modi launched the Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission in Varanasi on Monday and also inaugurated nine medical colleges in Siddharthnagar and other districts.

    The district magistrate’s order tagged by SP spokesperson Manoj Dhoopchandi Rai in a tweet asked all the officials and staff of the health services to stay at their centres and make arrangements on televisions, mobile phones and laptops to watch the prime minister’s programme.

    Dhoopchandi claimed that doctors were forced to watch the programme leaving their work.

    In a tweet in Hindi, he said, “Now the BJP government has felt the need of making doctors hear the prime minister’s speech.”

    Later, the SP leader told PTI, “The prime minister does not want to hear the views of the public, but only wants to impose his views on them. If somebody does not want to listen to Modi’s speech, the BJP government has to issue orders to make them listen to his speech. This proves that the public is completely tired of the BJP government.”

    Varanasi DM Kaushal Raj Sharma could not be contacted for comments.

    Congress leader Ramsudhar Mishra said, “Making the health department staff stop their work and compulsorily watch the prime minister’s speech shows the dictatorship of the Modi government. The government has first curtailed the media and now, it wants to curtail the government workers and impose its arbitrariness on them. This is a worrying situation for any democratic country.”

  • SP government opened fire at Lord Ram devotees and felicitated terrorists: Yogi Adityanath

    By PTI

    LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath Friday accused the Samajwadi Party of lodging fake criminal cases against Hindus and Lord Ram devotees during its government’s tenure while felicitating terrorists.

    Adityanath also targeted the Congress, accusing it of sowing seeds of terrorism. “The root of terrorism was planted in Jammu and Kashmir by the Congress in the form of Article 370 in 1952,” the chief minister said.

    Adityanath made the allegations while launching a scathing attack on opposition parties, especially the Samajwadi Party, and asked if people will forgive those who opened fire on “Ram Bhakts’.

    “When our government was formed, the first task which was undertaken was to waive farmers’ debt but in 2012 the first decision taken by the SP government was to withdraw the cases against terrorists,” Yogi said.

    The chief minister made the remark while addressing the representatives of ‘Chauhan Samaj’ during the ‘Samajik Pratinidhi Sammelan’ organised by the Bharatiya Janata Party Backward Front here.

    Accusing SP leaders Mulayam Singh Yadav and Akhilesh Yadav of not doing any development work during their tenures as Azamgarh MPs, Adityanath asked if there would have been firing at Ram Bhakts in 1990 had there been a BJP government at the helm.

    ‘Will you forgive those who opened fire on Lord Ram devotees? Lord Ram will not,” the chief minister said, adding the construction of Lord Ram temple in Ayodhya is an opportunity for 135 crore Indians to hold their heads high before the world.

    Yogi Adityanath was referring to police firing on ‘karsevaks’ gathered in Ayodhya on the saffron outfits’ call in 1990 when the SP leader Mulayam Singh Yadav was the UP chief minister.

    Continuing his attack on opposition parties, he said, “When the SP, BSP and Congress had their governments, they had no time for anyone other than their families and they worked for terrorists.

    He alleged that during the SP government term in 2012, fake cases were lodged against Hindus and terrorists were felicitated.

    “Terrorists ki aarti utari jati thi,” he said, adding that during the SP government’s terms, temples and monasteries were used to be attacked like in the medieval period.

    He also accused the SP and BSP governments of promoting corruption in lower rungs of the police and revenue departments, saying “the SP and BSP workers used to loot police stations and tehsils”.

    Appealing to create awareness among the people in the favour of BJP in the runup to the state assembly elections early next year, Adityanath said, “There is a need to go to villages and explain to people why the BJP government is necessary.”

    “If there is a BJP government, no one will dare indulge in riots, no mafia will grab government and if anyone does that, the state government’s bulldozers will there be on his chest.”

    Asking the Chauhan community members why none among them could become a governor after independence, Adityanath reminded them that it was only after the formation of the BJP government that Fagu Chauhan became the governor.

    “Dara Singh Chouhan has been working relentlessly for the last four and a half years as a minister and Prabhunath Chauhan was made the vice-chairman of the Commission for Backward Classes,” he said.

    He also questioned the previous governments on their failure in according constitutional status as to the Backward Classes Commission.

    It was because the intentions of previous governments were bad as they did not want the Dalits, backwards and poor to be happy. “The previous governments did not want every house to have cooking gas or electricity either. These people were content with spreading various diseases in every household,” he said.

    Asserting that the government is fulfilling its promises one by one, he said, “It is also your responsibility to reach out to each and every family and explain to them why the BJP is necessary for the country.”