News Analysis India

Tag: UP assembly elections

  • Priyanka Gandhi set to launch Congress’ UP campaign in Lucknow on October 2

    By Express News Service

    NEW DELHI:  The Congress is expected to start its campaign for Uttar Pradesh elections on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti on October 2 from Lucknow and the plan will be given the final go-ahead by Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra during her visit to the state capital later this week.

    During her visit on September 10-11, she is scheduled to hold meetings with party functionaries and state election and advisory committees to chalk out strategy for the Assembly elections early next year. The party is planning to hold a big rally in Lucknow on October 2 that will be addressed by Priyanka and other senior party leaders to launch the party’s campaign. This comes at a time when the party is looking at a revival in the key state. The party in 2017 had contested elections in alliance with Samajwadi Party and won only seven seats.     

    Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Ajay Kumar Lallu has made it clear that the party will not tie-up with bigger parties in the state. Rather, it will  be looking at alliances with smaller parties. The party candidates who won elections and those who stood in second position in 2017 are expected to be fielded again this time.The grand old party has held training workshops for party workers and leaders ahead of the elections.

    Rahul to visit JammuCongress leader Rahul Gandhi will be on a two-day visit to Jammu from Thursday, during which he will pay obeisance at the Mata Vaishno Devi shrine in Katra. Gandhi will leave for Jammu on Thursday and participate in the evening ‘aarti’ at the temple. He will stay at the shrine board’s guesthouse, sources said. The former Congress chief will address a workers’ convention at Jammu on Friday and meet separate delegations of local leaders during a luncheon meeting, they said. He will return to Delhi late in the evening, parrty sources said.

  • Owaisi sounds poll bugle in Ayodhya, party to contest 100 seats in UP

    Express News Service

    LUCKNOW: After inducting mafia don-turned politician Atiq Ahmad and his wife Shaista Parveen into All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) in Lucknow on Tuesday, party chief Asaduddin Owaisi moved to Rudauli in Ayodhya to sound the poll bugle in Uttar Pradesh for the 2022 Assembly elections.

    While Shaista Parveen took AIMIM membership in presence of Owaisi, her husband Atiq Ahmad, former SP MP, who is now in jail in connection with a number of criminal cases against him, joined the party in absentia.

    While talking to the media persons after the new joinings, Owaisi took on Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) claiming that both the regional parties had used Muslims as mere slaves and never accorded them their due in governance after winning elections.

    He justified the induction of Atiq Ahmad into AIMIM by saying that many BJP leaders were also facing several cases. “In UP, 37% BJP MLAs have criminal cases. Serious criminals cases have been lodged against 116 BJP MPs with most of them had cases related to crime against women,” Owaisi said.

    The AIMIM chief also claimed that his party was prepared till the booth level to contest 100 out of total of 403 assembly seats in UP in 2022.

    ALSO READ | Will ally only with small parties for Uttar Pradesh polls: Congress rules out tie-ups with SP, BSP

    “Muslims used to do ‘gulami’ (slavery) of Samajwadi Party and BSP and raise slogans in their favour and to make their government. But when it comes to giving them participation, they are forgotten and forsaken,” said Owaisi adding that so far Muslims had been making others to win polls but now it was time to fight the election and win for themselves.

    “When it comes to giving participation and representation to the Muslims, SP, BSP and AAP say it will increase communalism. The SP-BSP contested elections together, yet the BJP won. Muslims had given them votes. Where all those votes have gone?” he said.

    Asserting that his party’s only motive was to ensure BJP’s defeat, Owaisi said he was with Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP) of OP Rajbhar and other smaller groups of the Bhagidari Sankalp Morcha. On giving tickets to Hindus, Owiasi said, “The OBCs are our brothers, we will give tickets to Dalits too and they will win.”

    Later in the day, Owaisi addressed a public rally in Rasulabad village in the Ayodhya district where he challenged the SP chief to hold a one-to-one debate with him on a public platform to prove his hollow promises done to Muslims of UP.

    Rasulabad village falls in Rudauli tehsil area in Ayodhya and it is the only Muslim-dominated constituency in Ayodhya.

    While announcing that AIMIM would contest the Rudauli seat, Owaisi urged the Muslims not to live in the shadows. “Have the Muzaffarnagar rioters been brought to justice? Why do Muslims in Ayodhya feel ashamed or apprehensive to even talk about the Babri demolition? All political parties have exploited Muslims and Dalits. Our party will hold majlis in every household,” said Owaisi at the public meeting.

  • 2022 UP polls: Mayawati assures Brahmins a due place of pride in social strata

    Express News Service

    LUCKNOW: Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati on Tuesday assured the Brahmin community a place of pride in the social strata if her party was voted to power in the 2022 Uttar Pradesh elections.

    The assurance to the upper caste comes days after the BSP chief decided to take up the legal battle to secure bail for Khueshi Dubey, the 17-year-old widow of Aman Dubey, a relative and close aide of slain gangster Vikas Dubey infamous for Bikhru massacre in July last year.

    Addressing the concluding convention of the party’s series of ‘Prabudhh Sammelans’, Mayawati claimed: “Brahmins agree to the fact that they were better placed as compared to what they are under BJP’s rule.” The BSP chief added that more people from the Brahmin community should join the BSP for the upcoming elections to form a government with a majority, similar to 2007.

    The event was held at the BSP office in Lucknow’s Mall Avenue.

    In an apparent admission of her mistake during her 2007-12 regime, Mayawati promised the gathering that if voted to power in 2022, she would focus only on the development of Uttar Pradesh and would not indulge in constructing parks and memorials.

    Giving credit to the Dalit samaj for standing by her side in every situation, the BSP chief said that she was proud of them as they supported her without getting misled even during the tough times. “They stood by me like a solid rock. I hope that other sections of society associated with the Bahujan movement will also come along without getting misled,” said Mayawati.

    ALSO READ | Mayawati sees Hindu-Muslim unity sprouting out at Muzaffarnagar mahapanchayat

    Taking on RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s Monday statement that the ancestors of both Hindu and Muslims were the same, Mayawati said that if it was so, then why was the RSS’s BJP giving step-motherly treatment to the Muslims in the country.

    With an aim to strike the repeat its formula of social engineering through which it had won 2007 elections, BSP had been conducting those Brahmin outreach conventions. In 2007, Mayawati had come to power with the absolute majority and had become UP CM for the fourth time.

    National general secretary Satish Chandra was also present during the seminar for enlightened classes. The main BSP post holders, coordinators, and sector in-charges from all across the state were called on Tuesday for the key address.

    The BSP chief participated in an event with party workers after a long gap. Through the Lucknow convention on Tuesday, Mayawati disseminated her message for 2022 polls to the workers besides sounding the poll bugle for UP elections.

    The BSP national general secretary Satish Chandra Mishra was given the responsibility of holding these conventions for enlightening the Brahmins across 74 districts of the state. The first convention was held in Ayodhya on July 23 and the last took place in Lucknow on Tuesday.

    The event was earlier being called Brahmin Sammelan but the name was changed to Prabuddh Sammelan as per the order of the Allahabad High Court which banned conducting rallies and programmes by political parties based on caste.

  • Mayawati sees Hindu-Muslim unity sprouting out at Muzaffarnagar mahapanchayat

    Express News Service

    LUCKNOW: A day after farmers held the Kisan Mahapanchayat in Muzaffarnagar, BSP chief and former UP CM Mayawati stood in solidarity with the farmers’ movement expressing dismay against BJP.

    The former CM, while taking to Twitter, also lauded the Hindu-Muslim solidarity shown during the Mahapanchayat.

    “Efforts for Hindu-Muslim communal harmony in Muzaffarnagar district of Uttar Pradesh are commendable. This will certainly help a little in healing the deep wounds of the horrific riots that took place during the previous Samajwadi Party government in 2013, but it will also make many uncomfortable. Farmers are the pride of the country and the chants of Hindu-Muslim unity from the stage have shaken the political motives of the BJP. Muzaffarnagar also made people remember the riots done during the Congress and SP rule,” Mayawati said on Monday.

    Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav termed the Kisan Mahapanchayat as a “wave of people’s sentiments against the BJP rule” in the state.

    ALSO READ | Congress voices support for ‘kisan mahapanchayat’, Rahul says ‘unjust government’ will have to listen

    “Yesterday, unprecedented solidarity and unity among farmers in western UP on one side and teachers and the general public in eastern UP on the other have shown that the oppressive, divisive, arrogant power of BJP will never return. This is a wave of public opinion against the havoc of BJP. BJP is over,” said the SP chief through a tweet.

    Earlier on Sunday, farmer’s leader Rakesh Tikait had urged farmers and their supporters gathered for the ‘Kisan Mahapanchayat’ to chant ‘Allah hu Akbar’ and ‘Har har Mahadev’ to show solidarity between the two communities.

    Bharatiya Kisan Union spokesperson Tikait said these chants had been previously raised together and will be raised together in the future too. Attacking the ruling BJP, he said, “These people (BJP) have always worked to divide people and are responsible for riots. We will have to stop them. We will have to work constructively. We will not give our Uttar Pradesh in the hands of those responsible for riots.”

    Called by Sanyukt Kisan Morcha, the mahapanchayat in Muzaffarnagar district of Uttar Pradesh witnessed a massive turnout of farmers.

  • Assembly polls: Asaduddin Owaisi to begin three-day UP visit from Ayodhya on September 7 

    By PTI

    AYODHYA: With the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections drawing close, AIMIM president Owaisi will begin a three-day visit to Uttar Pradesh from Ayodhya starting September 7, his party said on Friday.

    All India Majlis Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) state president Shaukat Ali told PTI that Owaisi will visit the mausoleum of 18th century Sufi Saint Sheikh Aalam Makhdoom Zada in Rudauli in Ayodhya district and hold a public meeting in the vicinity of the shrine on September 7.

    “On September 8 and 9, he will hold public meetings in Sultanpur and Barabanki, respectively,” he said.

    Secretary of Indo-Islamic Cultural Foundation Athar Husain said, “Rudauli is a constituency from where Muslim candidates can win easily, but in the last two elections there was a division of votes because BSP fielded Muslim candidates against sitting SP MLA Rushdi Miyan.”

    “Now Owaisi may try to do the same in the coming elections,” he said.

    A local cleric, Mukhtar Ahmad, said, “Owaisi is the lone Muslim voice in India who has always raised Muslim issues in Parliament. First, we should listen to him, understand him and then form an opinion about him.”

    On Thursday, Owaisi told reporters in Hyderabad that his three-day visit to UP is just the beginning and he would go to many places in the state as elections are approaching.

    “We have to meet people. We have to go near people. We have to strengthen our cadre, get our candidates elected in the UP Assembly elections and defeat the Yogi (Adityanath) government,” he had said.

    Uttar Pradesh is slated to go to the polls early next year.

  • Manish Sisodia, Sanjay Singh among 17 AAP leaders booked for violating Covid protocol

    Express News Service

    LUCKNOW: An FIR has been registered against 17 people, including Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh, for violating Covid protocol while taking out a Tiranga Yatra in Agra on Monday.

    While a case has been lodged under Sections 188, 269, 270 of IPC, the FIR also mentioned 500 unidentified people at Agra’s Lohamandi police station.

    The AAP leaders were accused of gathering more than 50 people during the Tiranga Yatra which was taken out from GIC ground till Shaheed Smarak on Sunday. UP Police had given permission only for 50 people to attend the event but hundreds of people gathered at the rally.

    The Agra district administration had initially denied permission to take out the yatra, but it was later permitted after the route was changed. 

    ALSO READ |  Bihar parties to test Uttar Pradesh poll waters 

    In fact, Aam Admi Party (AAP) is going the whole hog to try poll waters in Uttar Pradesh in 2022. The Tiranga Yatra is a part of AAP’s plan to get itself acknowledged in the state and give a fight to the BJP in the upcoming assembly elections. AAP has announced to take out the Tiranga Yatra in Agra and other districts including Ayodhya, state capital Lucknow and Noida to commemorate 75 years of the country’s independence, said the party sources.

    The next Yatra will be taken out in Noida on September 1. Party sources said that this Yatra would culminate in Ayodhya on September 14. According to the information, the Tiranga Yatra will also stop at the Ram temple for some time. “It is an attempt to draw people’s attention towards BJP government’s alleged failures in the areas of law and order, education, healthcare, and employment, “ said a party leader.

    Hundreds of Aam Aadmi Party supporters and leaders had participated in the Tiranga Yatra that was carried out on Sunday after which the Agra Police filed a case against several people including Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh under the Epidemic Act and other sections.

  • Priyanka rises in prominence as reformer, troubleshooter for Congress

    Express News Service

    NEW DELHI: Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has emerged as a crisis manager for the party in difficult times. Her troubleshooting skills were on display while handling the Chhattisgarh political turmoil after the decisive role played by her in tackling similar situations in Rajasthan and Punjab state units.      

    Priyanka, who is in charge of Uttar Pradesh, is taking a keen interest in organisational matters and is consulted in important decisions related to revamp the party, said party sources. While the controversy in Punjab Congress fails to end, a senior party leader said she played a major role in organisational revamp in the state.

    ALSO READ | Bhupesh Baghel gets a Priyanka Gandhi Vadra lifeline till UP elections 

    She was the one who insisted on cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu’s elevation as Punjab Congress chief despite disapproval by Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh and reservations by former party chief Rahul Gandhi.  

    “Priyanka was the one who ensured Sidhu meets Rahul, a day after any meeting was denied by her brother. During the marathon meeting, she kept shuffling from Rahul’s house to party chief Sonia Gandhi’s residence to keep her in the loop. Finally, the decision went in favour of Sidhu by sidelining Amarinder Singh, who has good relations with Sonia ji,” said another party leader.   

    On similar lines in Chhattisgarh, during the three-hour-long meeting between Rahul and Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, she was present all through and updated Sonia also on the matter.

    Baghel was called to Delhi again Friday to meet Rahul as Priyanka was not present during the meeting on Tuesday. She was in the US on a personal visit and returned a day later. Priyanka’s decision to let Baghel continue for time being prevailed despite Rahul’s view to fulfill the commitment made to state health minister T S Singh Deo.

    She worked behind the curtains to placate the situation in Rajasthan last year following a rebellion by party leader Sachin Pilot, who was constantly in touch with her, over power-sharing issues with Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot. While trouble continues in Rajasthan over delay in addressing Pilot’s concerns, she continues to be in touch with the Tonk MLA and has assured him quick redressal of the problem.    

  • BJP keen to play up ex-CM Kalyan Singh’s legacy in run-up to 2022 UP Assembly elections

    Express News Service

    LUCKNOW: Set to name roads, medical institutions and even an airport after BJP stalwart Kalyan Singh as well as taking out an Asthi Kalash Yatra of the late leader who proceeded on his heavenly abode on August 21, the BJP is out to play up the legacy of the leader who beguilingly blended a strong Hindutva narrative with OBC politics in the state.

    That is the importance of being Kalyan Singh in Uttar Pradesh which is set for Assembly elections early next year. Kalyan Singh is considered to be the tallest OBC leader in the state who stormed to fame with the temple movement and was bestowed the moniker of ‘Hindu Hriday Samrat’ till he lived. Under his first regime, the demolition of the disputed structure at Ayodhya took place on December 6, 1992. Following the demolition, he resigned flashing the victory sign and claiming that he had fulfilled his promise to Ram devotees.

    Political pundits believe that both the Yogi Adityanath government and the state BJP unit are going the whole hog to unveil various initiatives to capitalise on Kalyan’s twin OBC-Hindutva connect ahead of the 2022 UP polls.

    CM Yogi Adityanath took everything under his own control—right from receiving the mortal remains of Kalyan Singh at SGPGIMS on the night of August 21 to escorting it for the last rites at Bansi Ghat in Narora on August 23 evening. Moreover, the BJP’s top leadership at the Centre and in the state led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself and including Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and BJP national chief JP Nadda paid glowing tributes to the departed leader who, despite his brief association with the rival Samajwadi Party, was an ‘RSS favourite’.

    ALSO READ: Kalyan Singh was face of Ram Temple movement, expanded BJP’s social base in UP

    “The party has done everything to make the stature of Kalyan Singh amply clear to the people of Uttar Pradesh. His demise has not only reignited the Hindutva sentiment reviving the memories of 1992 among the BJP supporters but also his attributes as the OBC leader may come in handy to the BJP’s benefit in the 2022 UP polls,” says Prof AK Mishra, a political scientist.

    A proposal to name Aligarh airport after the late leader could be put up before Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s cabinet and the party is planning an elaborate ‘Asthi Kalash’ Yatra (a journey with urns containing ashes of the departed soul) across the state.

    As per party sources, while part of the ashes of the late leader was immersed in the Ganga in Narora by the family on Friday, preparations were on to immerse the rest of the ashes in major rivers of UP, including Ganga in Varanasi and Saryu in Ayodhya.

    Moreover, Shraddhanjali Sabhas (memorial meetings) are being organised across the state. The first one was held in the temple town of Ayodhya by saints and seers to pay tribute to Kalyan Singh on Thursday.

    “Numerically, OBCs make the biggest chunk of the voting population in UP. So, the BJP is trying hard to connect with OBCs in the name of Kalyan who belonged to the Lodh sub-caste of OBCs,” said Prof Mishra.

    The BJP has only recently promoted young Rajya Sabha MP BL Verma, a protégé of Kalyan, as a Union minister of state who is likely to be entrusted with carrying out one of the seven ‘Jan Ashirwad Yatras’ in the state.

    After the cremation of the party stalwart on Monday, the BJP’s OBC leaders targeted Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, also an OBC, for not visiting to pay tributes to one of the tallest OBC leaders in the state.

    While Akhilesh had tweeted his condolences on the demise of Kalyan Singh, BSP chief Mayawati had visited the Mall Avenue residence of Kalyan Singh’s grandson Sandip to pay her last respects to the departed soul.

  • With an eye on 2022 polls, BJP draws a major outreach programme

    Express News Service

    LUCKNOW: In a major outreach programme, the BJP has planned a nationwide ‘Jan Ashirwad Yatra’ for all the new inductees in the Modi cabinet.

    The five-day yatra will kick start from different places on August 16 and will culminate on August 20.

    Covering a distance of over 3,500 km crisscrossing 36 Lok Sabha and more than 120 assembly constituencies in Uttar Pradesh, the ministers, mainly belonging to the state, will be conducting various meetings at public spaces, said the BJP official sources.

    As per the directives of the party’s national president JP Nadda, UP BJP general secretary and Member Legislative Council Govind Narayan Shukla has been made in charge of Jan Ashirwad Yatra in Uttar Pradesh. As per the schedule, the Minister of State for Development of North- Eastern Region and also Cooperation minister, BL Verma will lead ‘Jan Ashirwad Yatra’ from Brij region comprising Vrindavan, Mathura on August 16. He will cover Mathura district and some assembly seats of the Agra city, Ghaziabad, Gautam Budh Nagar, Bulandshahr, and will culminate his journey at Budaun in western UP on August 19.

    Union Minister of State for Law and Justice, SP Singh Baghel will start the Yatra from Firozabad on August 18 and will end it in Mathura. On August 17, Union Minister of State for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Bhanu Pratap Verma will start the yatra from Lalitpur and will reach Fatehpur on August 19 via Bundelkhand districts of Jhansi, Mahoba, Banda and will end in Chitrakoot.

    ALSO READ | 2022 UP polls: Challenges galore before Priyanka Gandhi as she gears up to revive Congress prospects

    The Mohanlalganj MP and Union Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs Kaushal Kishor will reach Chaudhary Charan Singh Airport in Lucknow on the morning of August 16 and will launch the Yatra from Mohan in Unnao on the same day.

    The yatra will end at Sitapur on August 18 via Unnao, Rae Bareli, and Barabanki in the Awadh region of the state.

    Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, Ajay Mishra will reach Chaudhary Charan Singh Airport Lucknow on the morning of August 16 and will start his Jan Ashirwad Yatra from Sandila in Hardoi on the same day. This yatra will pass through Hardoi, Lakhimpur, Bahraich, Gonda, Ayodhya and will culminate at Ambedkar Nagar on August 19.

    Meanwhile Apna Dal (S) leader and Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Anupriya Patel will start the yatra from Prayagraj on August 18 and will end in Mirzapur, her parliamentary constituency on August 19. 

    At the same time, Union Minister Pankaj Chaudhary will also reach Lucknow in the morning on August 16 and will start the journey by reaching Basti via Barabanki and Ayodhya and this journey will end at Maharajganj via Basti and Siddharthnagar o August 18.

  • UP Backward Classes Commission to recommend inclusion of 39 more castes in OBC list

    Express News Service

    LUCKNOW: After the passage of the OBC Bill in Parliament, ruling parties in poll-bound states, especially UP, will try to woo the backward classes to win power.

    Just a few months ahead of the crucial 2022 Assembly elections, UP Backward Classes Commission is ready with a list of 39 castes to be included in the list of Other Backward Castes (OBC) in the State. Currently, the OBC list in the state has 79 castes in it.

    The Commission is likely to send a recommendation in this regard to the Uttar Pradesh government soon.

    According to the sources, the castes which are likely to find a place in the OBC list include Bhutia, Agrahari, Dosar Vaish, Jaiswar Rajput, Ruhela, Muslim Shah, Muslim Kayastha, Hindu Kayastha, Barnwal, Kamalapuri Vaish, Core Kshatriya Rajput, Dohar, Ayodhyawasi Vaish, Kesarwani Vaish, Bagwan, Omar Bania, Mahour Vaish, Hindu Bhaat, Bhatt, Goria, Bot, Panwaria, Umaria, Nowana, and the Muslim Bhat.

    Apart from these, a survey has to be done for the castes like Vishnoi, Khar Rajput, Porwal, Puruwar, Kunder Kharadi, Binoudhia Vaish, Honorable Vaish, Gulhare Vaish, Gadhaiya, Radhedi, Pithbaj, etc.

    As per the highly placed sources in the Commission, the survey of castes is going on continuously on the basis of their representation. While the survey of 24 castes was complete, while that of 15 castes was yet to be done, said the sources.

    While conducting the caste survey, a total of 35 parameters are followed. These parameters include education, population, and economic basis. After the completion of the survey work, the State Backward Commission will give its recommendation to the government. The government will make the final decision on their inclusion in the OBC list.

    The step to include 39 castes in the OBC list ahead of UP elections can be a masterstroke for the ruling BJP which has been riding high OBC support in elections since 2014.

    This comes after the announcement of the central government to give 27% reservation to the OBCs in NEET. The OBC community constitutes around 54% of the total UP population and also a big chunk of voters in Uttar Pradesh. This has led nearly all the parties to focus on OBC voters.