News Analysis India

Tag: UP elections

  • Kejriwal seeks a chance to construct schools, hospitals in UP  

    Express News Service

    LUCKNOW: Launching his party poll campaign in the state capital on Sunday, Delhi Chief Minister and AAP’s national convenor Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday assured the people of Uttar Pradesh that if given a chance his party government would invest in constructing schools and hospitals unlike other regimes who spend the money on ‘Shamshan and Kabristan.’

    Addressing a public rally, Kejriwal referred to PM Narendra Modi as BJP’s biggest leader who had woven his 2017 poll narrative around Shamshan and Kabristan. “BJP’s biggest leader had said in 2017 that if Kabristan was built, Shamshan should also get constructed. Previous governments got the shamshan and kabristan constructed. Give us the opportunity to make what we know the best — to construct schools and hospitals,” said the AAP chief.

    UP CM Yogi Adityanath has been asserting in his rallies across the state that unlike previous governments who spent money on forming the boundary wall of kabristans during their tenure, his government had fortified the seats of faith by spending on Kashi Vishwanath Corridor and makeover of Ayodhya.

    Drawing credit for his COVID management, Kejriwal claimed that he received accolades at international level where as Yogi government failed miserably to help people during the pandemic last year. “People kept on dying on raids due to lack of oxygen and the state government could give them neither the treatment nor the oxygen. UP had the worst COVID management in the world,” he claimed.

    Referring to the free electricity promise by other parties like Samajwadi Party also, Kejriwal claimed that it was only AAP which had the formula to make the electricity free without financial burden on government. “Only we can do it,” he said.

    It may be recalled that SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, on Saturday,  had promised the people of UP 300 units of free electricity and making the power altogether free for the farmers for irrigation if his party was voted back to power.

    The AAP chief also took a swipe on Yogi Adityanath for splurging on advertising of his government. “In Delhi, there are 850 posters of Yogi Adityanath, while  we have got only 105 posters,” he said.

    For this rally, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders have traveled all over Uttar Pradesh and taken a letter of support from the people on promises like 300 units of free electricity, 10 lakh jobs, and unemployment allowance, according to the party. Earlier on Thursday, Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia had announced that the AAP will provide 300 units of free electricity to every household if voted to power in Uttar Pradesh.

    The party has also announced creating 10 lakh jobs every year and providing an allowance of Rs 5,000 per month to the unemployed in the state.

  • ‘BJP out to defame SP in alliance with IT, ED’: Akhilesh attacks Yogi

    Yadav made the allegation claiming that his party has nothing to do with Kanpur-based perfume trader Piyush Jain, who, he asserted, was close to the BJP.

  • PM frequently visiting UP as BJP fears it may lose Assembly polls: Sachin Pilot

    By PTI

    JAIPUR: Former Rajasthan deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot on Sunday claimed that PM Narendra Modi is visiting Uttar Pradesh frequently as BJP leaders fear that the party may lose next year’s Assembly polls there.

    The Congress leader said it is only his party that can replace the BJP at the national level as he slammed the BJP-led Union government for failing to check inflation.

    “Be it petrol, diesel, LPG gas or food items, prices are skyrocketing but the central government has failed to contain inflation. We have tried to provide relief to people in the state but the Centre has no interest in curbing inflation,” Pilot told reporters in Tonk, his Assembly constituency.

    He said BJP leaders indulge in politics of religion and caste, and the public has realised this.

    BJP leaders are concerned and fear that the party may lose elections in Uttar Pradesh due to which the prime minister is frequently visiting the poll-bound state, he said.

    “It is the Congress Party that can replace the BJP at the national level. The public will stand with the Congress in the Assembly elections in five states,” he added.

    Responding to a question on the demand of regularisation of jobs by contractual employees, he said the state government will do whatever possible in this regard.

  • UP polls: Amit Shah to hold programmes to scale up BJP’s campaign; Modi to visit Varanasi

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: To scale up the BJP’s campaign for the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, Union Minister Amit Shah will tour the state in the coming days and will cover more than 140 constituencies, sources said on Tuesday.

    During his trip, which will span over a week starting December 24, Shah, the party’s key strategist will travel to at least 21 different locations in the state and in each location, he will hold a programme for seven cluster constituencies, they said.

    Keeping caste equations in mind, each programme will be attended by people from three OBC-dominated constituencies, two urban constituencies, one scheduled caste-dominated constituency and one minority-dominated constituency, they said.

    Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh are due early next year.

    Among the key features of Shah’s visit will be his late evening meetings with party workers to deliberate on strategies for the upcoming elections, they said It was under the leadership of Shah as BJP chief that the party had won a massive majority in the 2017 Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, and won 67 Lok Sabha seats out of 80 in 2019.

    In 2014, when he was Uttar Pradesh in-charge, the BJP had won 73 Lok Sabha seats.

    Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Varanasi on Thursday and launch multiple development initiatives, including inaugurating and laying the foundation stones of 22 projects worth over Rs 870 crore, his office said on Tuesday.

    It has been the constant endeavour of the prime minister to work for the development and economic progress of his Lok Sabha constituency, Varanasi, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said in a statement.

    Moving ahead in this direction, he will visit Varanasi and launch multiple development initiatives at around 1 pm on Thursday, it added.

    The prime minister will lay the foundation stone of the “Banas Dairy Sankul” at the Uttar Pradesh State Industrial Development Authority Food Park, Karkhiyaon, Varanasi.

    Spread across 30 acres of land, the dairy will be built at a cost of about Rs 475 crore and will have a facility for processing five lakh litres of milk per day, the PMO said.

    This will strengthen the rural economy and help the farmers of the region by creating new opportunities for them, it added.

    Modi will also digitally transfer a bonus of about Rs 35 crore to the bank accounts of more than 1.7 lakh milk producers associated with the Banas Dairy.

    He will lay the foundation stone for a biogas-based electricity generation plant for a Milk Producers’ Cooperative Union plant in Varanasi’s Ramnagar, the statement said.

    It will be a key step towards making the plant energy self-sufficient, the PMO said.

    Modi will also launch a portal and a logo dedicated to the Conformity Assessment Scheme of milk products, developed by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) with the help of the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB).

    The unified logo, featuring both the BIS logo and the NDDB quality mark, will simplify the certification process for the dairy sector and reassure the public about dairy product quality.

    In another effort to reduce the number of land ownership issues at the grassroots level, the prime minister will virtually distribute the rural residential rights record, “Gharauni”, under the Swamitva scheme of the Union Ministry of Panchayati Raj to over 20 lakh residents of Uttar Pradesh, the PMO said.

    The programme will also witness Modi inaugurating and laying the foundation stones of 22 development projects worth over Rs 870 crore, it said, adding that this will further strengthen the ongoing 360-degree transformation of Varanasi.

    The prime minister will inaugurate multiple urban development projects, including six projects of redevelopment of the Old Kashi wards, a parking-and-surface park at Beniabag, the beautification of two ponds, a sewage treatment plant in Ramna village and the provisioning of advanced surveillance cameras at 720 locations under the Smart City Mission.

    Projects in the education sector that will be inaugurated by the prime minister include the Union Education Ministry’s Inter University Centre for Teachers Education, built at a cost of around Rs 107 crore, and a teachers’ education centre at the Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies, built at a cost of over Rs 7 crore, the PMO said.

    Further, residential flats and staff quarters at the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) and the ITI, Karaundi will also be inaugurated by the prime minister.

    In the health sector, a project comprising a doctors’ hostel, a nurses’ hostel and a shelter home, amounting to Rs 130 crore, at the Mahamana Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya Cancer Centre will be inaugurated by the prime minister.

    He will also inaugurate a 50-bed Integrated Ayush Hospital at Bhadrasi, the statement said.

    The prime minister will lay the foundation stone of the Rs 49 crore Government Homeopathic Medical College in Pindra tehsil under the Ayush Mission.

    In the road sector, Modi will lay the foundation stone of two “four-to-six lane” road-widening projects for Prayagraj and Bhadohi, the statement said.

    This will improve the connectivity of Varanasi and will be a step towards resolving the problem of the city’s traffic congestion, it added.

    To give a fillip to the tourism potential of the holy city, the prime minister will inaugurate the first phase of the tourism development project related to the Shri Guru Ravidas Ji Temple, Seer Govardhan, Varanasi.

    Other projects to be inaugurated by the prime minister include a speed breeding facility at the International Rice Research Institute, the South Asia Regional Centre, Varanasi, a regional reference standards laboratory in Payakpur village and an advocate building in Pindra tehsil, the PMO said.

  • MP CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan launches UP BJP’s Jan Vishvas Yatra in Ballia district

    By Express News Service

    BHOPAL: Just five days after his visit to Varanasi and Ayodhya, Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan was back in assembly poll-bound Uttar Pradesh on Sunday.

    Chouhan launched one of the six Jan Vishvas Yatras of the UP BJP. 

    He launched the Yatra in Ballia district — the land of the country’s freedom movement revolutionaries Mangal Pandey and Chittu Pandey.

    Accompanied among other UP BJP leaders,  including state BJP president Swatantra Deo Singh and state’s minister Dara Singh Chouhan, the Yatra was welcomed across Ballia district by BJP workers, who shouted slogans Mamaji ka Swagat Hai and Jai Ho Mama to welcome the MP CM.

    The yatrra will travel through large part of East UP, including Mau, Azamgarh, Sant Kabir Nagar, Gorakhpur, Deoria, Maharajganj and Siddharthnagar districts before culminating in Basti. It will travel through that region of East UP, which is considered UP CM Yogi Adityanath’s bastion.

    Five other Jan Vishvas Yatras started from other parts of UP, including Jhansi, Mathura, Bijnor, Ghazipur and Ambedkar Nagar districts.

    The Yatra is being seen as the reply to SP chief Akhilesh Yadav’s Vijay Rath Yatra and Congress national general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s Pratigya Yatra. It aims at spreading among people the good governance of Yogi Adityanath government in UP as well as turn a perfect warm up system for the BJP rank and file across the state.

    In his signature style, Chouhan explained how Modi and Yogi represented strong leadership and governance in UP.

    Chouhan is expected to play a major role in poll campaign in UP in the coming months. 

    The role of BJP politicians from MP in UP Assembly poll campaigning assumes more significance, as around 10-15 UP districts housing 50-60 assembly constituencies are bordered by BJP-ruled MP’s Vindhya, Bundelkhand and Gwalior-Chambal regions.

    According to informed political sources, the Congress national general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra too has asked his party’s MP unit to send leaders for the grand old party’s campaigning in UP in the coming weeks.

  • Nadda to kick off first leg of UP poll campaign

    By Express News Service

    NEW DELHI:  BJP chief J P Nadda on Monday will kick off the first leg of the party’s campaign for Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls early next year by launching the regional booth-level activities. With the BJP working out the strategy to work at the pollbooth-levels with the involvements of the top state leaders of the saffron party. 

    Nadda will hold strategy meetings for the Kanpur and Gorakhpur regions during his two-day-long stay in the poll bound state. BJP national media head Anil Baluni said that Nadda will also inaugurate party offices in seven districts of the state through virtual mode during his stay in the politically important state.

    The chief will also be going to the state capital Lucknow to hold stock-taking meetings with party leaders. With Prime Minister Narendra Modi already launching several developmental projects in the state, the BJP is now stepping up its election campaign momentum in Uttar Pradesh. Union Minister for Home Affairs Amit Shah has also visited the poll-bound state. 

    Baluni said that Nadda will preside over the organisational meetings in the state’s  capital Lucknow. The visit of the BJP national president is coming close in the heels of the top leadership of the party brainstorming the strategies for the poll-bound state in the national capital a few days ago in which the state leaders were also called in. Nadda is likely to discuss the rollout of the strategies in various zones in which the state has been divided for the electioneering purposes. 

  • Jinnah continues to dominate UP’s political discourse as Yogi now calls Akhilesh Taliban supporter

    By Express News Service

    LUCKNOW:  Hitting out at SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath accused him of being a “Taliban supporter” as he “eulogised Jinnah”. 

    “Those who support Muhammad Ali Jinnah, in a way support the Taliban,” said the CM while attacking the Opposition at a social conference organised by the BJP to strengthen its ground force ahead of the 2022 UP Assembly elections.

    Cautioning against the opposition parties and listing out his government’s achievements, the CM said: “One has to be careful with such people. BJP has done what it said. Article 370 from Kashmir was removed. Today a grand Ram temple is being built in Ayodhya. Before 2014, the benefit of housing scheme was available to those who were close to the people in power, but today the  poor are being given housing without any discrimination.”

    His remark is seen as a veiled dig at the Samajwadi Party (SP).

    Om Prakash Rajbhar, the chief of the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP), an ally of the SP, had on Thursday blamed the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) for the country’s partition, a day after saying India would have remained unified had Muhammad Ali Jinnah been made its first prime minister.

    Earlier, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav had equated Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, with Mahatma Gandhi, Vallabhbhai Patel and Jawaharlal Nehru.

    With months to go for the Assembly polls in the politically crucial state of Uttar Pradesh, Jinnah appears to be dominating the political discourse.

    Addressing the Samajik Pratinidhi Sammelan here, Adityanath said, “Those who are speaking about the partition are in a way extending support to the Taliban. As soon as the Taliban resurfaced in Afghanistan, a number of voices started to come up in its support. When strong action was taken, these voices went soft.”

    “Supporting the Taliban means supporting a power that works against humanity, against Lord Buddha’s message of ‘maitri’ (friendship). Certain people are moving in that direction and we need to be aware of them,” he added.

    The BJP leader said those supporting the Taliban need to learn from the past “We should not forget how Buddha’s statues were destroyed in Bamiyan (in Afghanistan) by the Taliban. Breaking the statues of Buddha means trying to put an end to peace. Twenty years ago, when this incident took place, we thought that one day, they (Taliban) will face ‘durgati’ (misfortune). A few days later, the US dropped bombs on them. Back then, I had said they reaped what they sowed,” he said.

    Without naming any political party, the Uttar Pradesh chief minister said, “The opposition does not have any issue to raise. Rashtranayak (national hero) Sardar Patel is on one side and Jinnah, who divided the country, is on the other. They support Jinnah and insult Patel. But we support Patel. He is a rashtranayak while Jinnah will remain a villain for centuries. Will you support those supporting Jinnah?”

    Referring to history books, he said, “History never termed emperor Ashoka or Chandragupta Maurya great, but it termed Alexander, who was defeated by Chandragupta Maurya, great. Historians are silent on such issues. However, once the countrymen learn the truth, India will change.”

    Hitting back at Adityanath, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi tweeted, “Hindutva is a fake history factory. Chandragupta and Alexander never met in war. This is yet another example of why we need good public education system. In absence of good schools, Baba-log get to make up facts according to convenience. Baba doesn’t value education and it shows.”

    Showering praises on Narendra Modi, Adityanath said the prime minister is making the country resurgent and the philosophy of “Ek Bharat, Shrestha Bharat” entails this.

    Addressing a public meeting in Hardoi, the SP chief had said, “Sardar Patel, Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Jinnah studied in the same institute and became barristers. They helped the country achieve independence and never backed away from any struggle.”

    (With PTI Inputs)

  • Jhoot, Ahankar and Mehengai: UP acronym politics gets a bitter JAM taste

    Express News Service

    LUCKNOW:  In a strong retort to Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s JAM jibe, Samajwadi Party (SP) chief and former UP chief minister Akhileskh Yadav on Sunday said BJP’s JAM stands for “Jhoot (lies), Ahankar (Ego) and Mehengai (Inflation).”

    The SP leader was speaking to media persons in Kushinagar during the third leg of his Vijay Rath Yatra which was kicked off on Saturday from CM Yogi Aditynath’s bastion Gorakhpur.

    On Saturday, Shah claimed in Azamgarh during a public rally that while PM Modi brought JAM, based on Jandhan accounts, Aadhaar and Mobile, to eradicate corruption from the system, there was also an SP’s JAM meaning Jinnah, Azam Khan and Mukhtar. 

    Akhilesh Yadav during the ‘Samajwadi Vijay Yatra’in Kushinagar on SundayReacting to this, Akhilesh said: “They gave a new acronym —  JAM. It does not work in diabetes. Samajwadi people have also defined JAM, the BJP’s JAM stands for Jhoot, Ahankar and Mehengai. Nobody lies more than the BJP. They have sent JAM, we will soon send butter for them.”

    Lending support to farmers, Akhilesh said: “The BJP has brought three oppressive farm laws owing to which many farmers have lost their lives and a protest has been going on for almost a year now, but the BJP doesn’t care.”

    Taking credit for the recently inaugurated Kushinagar airport, the SP chief said it was a brainchild of his government.

    “Someone may call us backward but we are forward with our thoughts. We think of development despite being backward and they (BJP) think backward despite being of upper caste,”  he said.

    “Today UP is at the forefront of custodial deaths. Thoko raj is going on. Sensitive policing is needed. If Baba Yogi (CM) doesn’t know how to operate a laptop, then how will he do smart policing?” he added.If the BJP gets one more chance, it will crush the Constitution, claimed the SP chief.

  • Rajbhar to join Akhilesh’s ‘Samajwadi Vijay Yatra’ from UP’s Ghazipur to Azamgarh

    By ANI

    LUCKNOW: Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) National President Om Prakash Rajbhar will join Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav for ‘Samajwadi Vijay Yatra’ on Tuesday, informed the party sources.

    Om Prakash Rajbhar will join Akhilesh Yadav from Ghazipur to Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh for ‘Samajwadi Vijay Yatra’.

    Samajwadi party began this yatra on October 12, ahead of the upcoming assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh.

    Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP), a former BJP, have become allies for the 2022 UP assembly polls.

    Earlier on October 9, Yadav had expressed confidence about winning the polls in Uttar Pradesh and said that the people of the state were disappointed with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the state.

    “We are again getting an opportunity to hold rath yatra and this time, it is a ‘Vijay Yatra’ of Samajwadi Party. The people of Uttar Pradesh are disappointed with the BJP government,” Yadav had told ANI earlier.

    He further said that his party is optimistic about getting 400 seats and securing a landslide victory.

    “The way BJP is running the government in the state and at the Centre, it is not for the people and they are unhappy with the party. As a result, the Samajwadi party is very optimistic about 400 seats in the upcoming elections,” he added.

  • BJP failed to fulfill poll promises, party shouldn’t worry about 2024, first face 2022: Akhilesh

    Express News Service

    LUCKNOW: Accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of failing on all fronts of governance by not fulfilling the promises made to the people of the state in its manifesto in 2017, Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav said that the BJP should be held accountable to the people before the 2022 elections as the party had deceived the people of the state.

    Slamming the BJP, the SP chief said the ruling party should not worry about 2024 (general elections). It has to answer people’s questions in 2022 (assembly elections) first.

    Launching the third leg of his Vijay Rath Yatra from Gorakhpur, the stronghold of CM Yogi Adityanath, the SP chief accused the ruling BJP of selling major institutions instead of giving jobs to youth.

    “Earlier, the BJP government was a ‘pheku sarkar’ (government that made false promises), but has now become a ‘bechu sarkar’ (government that sells),” Yadav said, claiming that the “BJP government is going and no one could stop it”.

    ALSO READ: At rally with Shah, UP CM Yogi Adityanath drops hint to rename Azamgarh as ‘Aryamgarh’

    “They have insulted the farmers by promulgating three farm laws instead of doubling their income as was promised. Fuel prices are sky-rocketing and inflation is at its peak. The value of the rupee is touching a record low,” claimed Akhilesh while moving on his Vijay Rath carved out of a Mercedes bus equipped with all five-star facilities.

    He also criticized the government for “not helping the labourers and the poor during the Covid-19 lockdown”.

    Elaborating on the farm laws, Akhilesh said: “The farmers are protesting for the last so many months, but the government has not lent an ear to them instead it is crushing their protest. Protests are a way of making the government listen in a democracy, but this government is muzzling their voice. It has insulted the farmers and will take their land.”

    The SP chief also ridiculed Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath saying the UP CM did not know how to operate a laptop, so he was not distributing laptops among the students.

    Yadav said Gorakhpur was awaiting development. “People of Azamgarh know who has done development work. Development has stopped in Gorakhpur during the BJP regime. Now, the people of Gorakhpur will bring down the fever of arrogance of the BJP,” he claimed.