News Analysis India

Tag: UP Polls 2022

  • Bulandshahr 2018 riot accused Yogesh Raj to fight UP polls

    By PTI

    NOIDA: Yogesh Raj, who was briefly arrested for alleged his role in the 2018 mob violence in Bulandshahr that led to the killing of two people, including an on-duty police inspector, has filed his nomination to contest the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls.

    The nomination has been filed under the name Yogesh Kumar, as an independent candidate from the Syana assembly constituency, where voting is scheduled for February 10, according to his election affidavit.

    In the affidavit, the Class 12-passout has mentioned his age as 26 and also declared that there are two criminal cases against him in which verdict is awaited, including the 2018 mob violence case.

    Police Inspector Subodh Kumar Singh and local resident Sumit had died of bullet injuries after violence broke out in the Syana area of western UP’s Bulandshahr district in December 2018.

    The violence was triggered after cattle carcasses were found strewn outside Chingrawathi village.

    Yogesh was among the 80 people, of which 27 were named and rest ‘unknown’, who were booked by the police for their alleged role in the violence.

    He was the Bulandshahr unit convener of the Bajrang Dal at the time of the incident but is no longer its member, an office-bearer of the right wing outfit had told PTI in May 2021 after he had won the local panchayat polls.

    Yogesh, who was released on bail, had contested the panchayat poll from ward number 5 and emerged as a winner among the six candidates.

    His name in that election was also mentioned as Yogesh Kumar and not Yogesh Raj.

    Syana assembly constituency goes to polls on February 10 during the first phase of elections in the state.

    The election results will be out on March 10.

    BJP’s Devendra Singh Lodhi, the sitting MLA, will be once again contesting the polls from Syana.

    There are 13 candidates in the fray, with seven Independent nominees, including Yogesh.

    Kumari Poonam (Congress), Satvir Singh (Aam Aadmi Party), Sunil Kumar (Bahujan Samaj Party), Dilnawaz Khan (Rashtriya Lok Dal) and Gyanesh Chauhan (Hindustan Utthan Party) are also filing their nominations.

    The scrutiny of nominations will take place on January 24, while the last date for withdrawal of candidature is January 27, according to the Election Commission.

  • EC extends ban on poll rallies, roadshows till January 31 amid surge in Covid cases

    By Online Desk

    Amid a surge in COVID-19 cases, the Election Commission of India on Saturday extended the ban on physical rallies and roadshows till January 31.

    The decision came after the Election Commission of India held a meeting earlier in the day with the Union Health Secretary and the Chief Health Secretaries of the five poll-bound states to review the ban on holding physical roadshows and rallies by political parties ahead of Assembly elections.

    The Election commission had put a ban on election rallies and roadshows until January 15 first and later extended till January 22. The progress on vaccination will be a key factor in allowing relaxations.

    ALSO READ | UP polls: Akhilesh Yadav promises jobs for 22 lakh youths in IT sector

    The apex poll body has given relaxation for physical public meetings of political parties or contesting candidates for Phase 1 allowed from January 28 and for Phase 2 from February 1.

    It said that limit of five persons for door to door campaign has been enhanced to 10 persons, excluding security personnel and video vans for publicity permitted at designated open spaces with COVID restrictions. Other instructions on door-to-door campaigns will continue.

    The Election Commission of India today held a review meeting with the Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India through virtual mode.

    The Commission also held virtual meetings with Chief Secretaries, Chief Electoral Officers, and Health Secretaries of Goa, Manipur, Punjab, Uttarakhand, and Uttar Pradesh.

    Since contesting candidates for Phase 1 elections will be finalised on January 27, the Commission has decided to allow physical meetings of concerned Political parties or contesting candidates in designated open spaces with a maximum of 500 persons or 50 per cent of the capacity of the ground or the prescribed limit set by SDMA, whichever number is lesser, from January 28 till February 8 (excluding the silence period).

    ALSO READ | UP Polls: Mayawati releases list of 51 candidates for 2nd phase

    Since contesting candidates for Phase 2 elections will be finalised on January 31, the Commission has decided to allow physical meetings of concerned political parties or contesting candidates with public in designated open spaces with a maximum of 500 persons or 50 per cent of the capacity of the ground or the prescribed limit set by SDMA, whichever number is lesser, from February 1 till February 12 (excluding the silence period).

    As of today, India reported 3,37,704 fresh COVID cases (9,550 more than yesterday) and 2,42,676 recoveries and 488 deaths in the last 24 hours. Total 21,13,365 active cases are in the country with a daily positivity rate of 17.22 per cent.

    Manipur, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Goa are heading into Assembly polls.

    The Election Commission’s aim is to have maximum voters vaccinated before the elections held in these particular states. 

    (With agency inputs)

  • UP polls: Owaisi announces alliance, proposes 2 CMs, 3 deputy CMs

    By Online Desk

    All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi on Saturday announced his alliance in Uttar Pradesh with Babu Singh Kushwaha and Bharat Mukti Morcha.

    “If the alliance comes to power there will be 2 Chief Ministers, one from OBC community and another from Dalit community. There would be 3 Deputy Chief Ministers including from Muslim community,” he told a press conference.

    Upon being questioned whether this an alliance formed out of compulsion, Babu Singh Kushwaha said that it is not of compulsion. “We worked for Dalit, backward and minority community for a long time,” he said.

    Elections to the 403 assembly constituencies in Uttar Pradesh will be held in seven phases starting February 10.

    The polling in Uttar Pradesh will be held on February 10, 14, 20, 23, 27, and March 3 and 7 in seven phases. The counting of votes will take place on March 10. 

  • Officials working overtime to meet Covid vaccination target before UP polls

    By PTI

    LUCKNOW: Facing the daunting task of holding a Covid-safe election in Uttar Pradesh, officials are working overtime to achieve the target of fully vaccinating at least 90 per cent of the eligible population before the first phase polling on February 10.

    The state election office intends to ensure 100 per cent inoculation of officials and security personnel to be deployed for the seven-phase polls in the state ending on March 7.

    The results will be declared on March 10 along with other four poll-bound states — Punjab, Uttrakhand, Goa and Manipur.

    Entrusted with the big responsibility, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath holds a review meeting on the coronavirus situation daily and gives necessary instructions on testing and vaccination.

    “We are aiming to ensure the eligible population gets at least one dose by January 25,” Additional Chief Secretary Navneet Sehgal told PTI-Bhasha.

    So far 63 per cent of the targeted population has received two doses of vaccine and the effort is to scale it up to at least 90 per cent by the time the state witnesses the first round of voting on February 10, said Sehgal, who is also the nodal officer on COVID-19 in the state.

    The officer said around 97 per cent of the 18-plus population has got their first dose of the vaccine by now.

    On an average 25 lakh people are administered vaccine daily as part of a speed-up inoculation drive.

    Adityanath has asked officials to increase it to 30 lakh a day.

    Uttar Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer Ajay Kumar Shukla told PTI-Bhasha that more than 7.5 lakh officials would be deployed on poll duty and efforts are on to fully vaccinate them beforehand.

    Immediately after declaration of the voting schedule, all the district magistrates and superintendents of police were directed to ensure that those put on election duty are fully inoculated, Shukla said.

    “No official will be put on election duty without them receiving both doses of jab. Treated as frontline Covid workers, they are also being given the additional precautionary dose of vaccine,” he said.

    Those on poll duty would have to undergo thermal scanning before they set out for the work and if any health problem is spotted they would be taken off duty.

    There would be sufficient arrangement of masks and sanitiser for them at the polling centres, Shukla said.

    The state’s poll panel head said all the polling booths would be totally sanitised beforehand and COVID-19 protocol would be adhered to strictly.

    By January 8, around 88.98 per cent of the population had received the first dose and 52.71 per cent got both doses in Uttar Pradesh.

    The state has since expedited the vaccination exercise and the number of inoculated population is increasing fast, according to state health department sources.

    According to the state government’s latest statement, 2.41 lakh COVID-19 testing was conducted in the last 24 hour, out of which 16,412 were found positive.

    During the period, 17,600 infected people recovered.

    Currently, Uttar Pradesh has 95,866 active cases.

    More than 70.52 lakh citizens in the 15-17 age bracket have been inoculated so far, the statement said.

    Over 50 per cent of the population in this new target group has been administered a dose.

    Uttar Pradesh on Friday reported 22 coronavirus deaths as 16,142 fresh cases surfaced, pushing the state’s infection count to 19,16,616, according to a government statement.

    So far, 23,022 people have died from the infection in the state.

    Of the fresh deaths, two each were reported from Lucknow, Meerut, Lakhimpur Kheri, Chandauli and Ballia, the statement issued here on Friday said.

    In the past 24 hours, 17,600 recovered from the disease, taking the total number of patients cured so far to 17,977,28.

    The count of active COVID-19 cases in the state stands at 95,866, the statement said.

    In the past 24 hours, more than 2.41 lakh samples were tested for COVID-19, the statement said.

  • UP polls: NCP supremo Sharad Pawar, Amit Shah to campaign in state

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: NCP supremo Sharad Pawar will lead the party’s campaign in Uttar Pradesh where the party is contesting the assembly elections in alliance with the Samajwadi Party.

    Besides Pawar, senior leaders and parliament members Praful Patel, Supriya Sule, Sunil Tatkare and Fauzia Khan have been named as star campaigners for the assembly elections.

    NCP has fielded party general secretary K K Sharma from Anupshahr assembly constituency in Bulandshahr district of western Uttar Pradesh.

    Maharashtra minister and NCP national spokesperson Nawab Malik, former Rajya Sabha member Abdul Majeed Memon, Delhi NCP chief Yoganand Shastri are among others who have been named as star campaigners for the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections.

    Elections for the 403-member Uttar Pradesh Assembly will be held in seven phases from February 10 to March 7.

    The results will be announced on March 10.

    SP is expected to field candidates on about 350 of the 403 seats, while the rest would be split among alliance partners.

    Jayant Singh Chaudhary-led Rashtriya Lok Dal, Om Prakash Rajbhar-led Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party are other alliance partners of the Samajwadi Party.

    Opposition leaders are expected to hit the campaign trail in Lucknow in support of Samajwadi Party next month.

    Pawar had said that the BJP had not fulfilled the promises it had made to the people and that Uttar Pradesh will witness a change in government after elections.

    In his first political programme in Uttar Pradesh after the assembly poll dates were announced, Home Minister Amit Shah will be on a door-to-door campaign in support of the BJP candidate in the western UP constituency of Kairana on Saturday.

    The senior BJP leader, who is playing a key role in the party’s campaign in the politically crucial state, will also hold a meeting with party workers in Shamli and Baghpat, sources said, adding that he will later have an interaction with eminent citizens in Meerut.

    Shah’s choice of Kairana is significant as BJP leaders had alleged in the run-up to the 2017 assembly polls that a large number of Hindus were forced to migrate from the area due to threats.

    Uttar Pradesh will have seven-phase polls starting from February 10.

    Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Friday released the BJP’s song for the assembly polls and said rioters, who once enjoyed the patronage of previous governments and were a threat to the state’s peace, now have their posters pasted in public places.

    Adityanath released the song titled ‘UP Phir Mangein BJP Sarkar’ at the party’s state headquarters here in the presence of its Uttar Pradesh chief Swatantra Dev Singh, Deputy chief ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Dinesh Sharma, and Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur.

    Speaking on the occasion, the chief minister said, “The rioters who were once a threat to the peace and harmony of the state and enjoyed patronage of previous governments, today have their posters pasted on roads and crossings.”

    “Taking the basic mantra of ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas’ of Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the aim of our government, we have worked for the development of all but appeasement of none,” Adityanath said and referred to the achievements of his government.

    Under the SP and the BSP governments sugar mills used to remain closed and arrears of sugarcane farmers were pending for years, Adityanath said, adding that his government made record payments to sugarcane farmers.

    “Our government also paid cane dues pending from the SP and BSP governments’ time,” he said.

    Adityanath said that his government has fulfilled the promises made by the BJP in its 2017 election manifesto.

  • ‘Do you see any other face?’ Priyanka virtually projects herself as Congress’ CM candidate in UP polls

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Friday virtually pitched herself as the party’s face in the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections but did not confirm whether she would contest the polls or not.

    “Do you see any other face from the Congress party,” she said when asked who would be the party’s chief ministerial face in UP polls.

    “You are seeing my face everywhere,” the Congress leader added while addressing a press conference to release the party’s ‘youth manifesto’ along with her brother and former president Rahul Gandhi.

    Asked whether she would herself contest the assembly polls, Priyanka Gandhi said, “We have not yet decided.”

    She said it would be known once that is decided.

    Priyanka Gandhi, who is the general secretary in-charge for Congress in Uttar Pradesh, said the party would certainly look into supporting other parties if the situation were to arise after the elections.

    She, however, said that the Congress would have implementing its vision for youth, especially women, in Uttar Pradesh as a priority while extending any such support for government formation.

    The Congress on Friday released a manifesto for the youth ahead of the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections with Rahul Gandhi asserting that the party wants to build a “new UP” driven by the strength of the youth.

    In the manifesto, the party resolved to fill the “massive backlog” of jobs in the public sector and promised 20 lakh jobs of which eight lakh would be for women.

    Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who along with Rahul Gandhi released the ‘Bharti Vidhan’ at the party headquarters here, said the party wants the focus to be on development as the propaganda that is mostly going around is negative or based on caste or communalism.

    Asked whether her party would be willing to align with other Opposition parties if the need arises post elections in order to implement the vision unveiled by the party, Priyanka Gandhi told reporters, “If such circumstances arise and in the event that they do, we would be open to considering that. I would say that if such a situation arises then we would certainly want our agenda for the youth and women to be fulfilled if we were going to be part of any such dispensation.”

    To another question on the chief ministerial face of the party and what would be the party’s strategy on it going into polls, the party general secretary said, “Do you see any other face in UP from the Congress’ side? Then?” When pressed, she said, “Can’t you see my face visible everywhere?” In his remarks at the press conference to launch the ‘youth manifesto’, Rahul Gandhi said the vision document is “not hollow words” but drafted after consulting youth whose views are reflected in it.

    “There are polls in UP and the youth there need a new vision and only the Congress can give that vision to the state,” the former president said.

    “We don’t spread hatred, we work to unite people and we want to build a new Uttar Pradesh driven by the strength and confidence of youth.”

    Priyanka Gandhi added that biggest problem in the state is recruitment and the youth are disappointed.

    The party is going to the polls with the focus on youth and women and has announced that it will reserve 40 per cent of tickets for women in Uttar Pradesh.

    Polling for the 403-member Uttar Pradesh Assembly is scheduled to be held in seven phases from February 10 to March 7 and the counting of votes will be held on March 10.

  • Ahead of Congress’ manifesto launch, SP extends ‘support’ to Imran Masood

    By PTI

    LUCKNOW: The Samajwadi Party on Thursday said former Congress leader Imran Masood has extended support to it, amid reports of his resentment with the party after the ‘denial’ of ticket from the Saharanpur’s Nakud seat.

    “Former senior leader Congress Imran Masood has given support to the SP with his supporters,” the party tweeted on Thursday.

    The SP also shared Masood’s with party chief Akhilesh Yadav.

    Masood has been demanding that he be fielded from the Nakud seat but according to party sources, former UP minister Dharam Pal Saini, who recently joined the SP after quitting the ruling BJP, is likely to be fielded from there.

    A purported video of Masood had recently surfaced on social media, in which he is being seen saying that he was “treated like a dog, made to touch feet”.

    Masood is a known Muslim face in western UP.

    Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will on Friday release the party’s youth manifesto for the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.

    Both leaders will address a special press conference at the party’s headquarters.

    This is one of the rare occasions when both leaders of the Congress Party will be jointly addressing the media.

    The party is going to the polls with youth and women in focus and has announced that it will reserve 40 per cent of tickets for women in Uttar Pradesh.

  • SP will restore old pension scheme for government employees, Yash Bharti awards in UP: Akhilesh

    With another relative of SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav joining the BJP after Aparna Yadav, Akhilesh Yadav took a swipe at the ruling party, thanking it for ending “parivarvaad”.

  • Winning Muslim voters’ trust biggest challenge for BJP in second phase of UP polls

    By PTI

    LUCKNOW: The ruling BJP might face a tougher battle on the 55 seats that will go to polls in the second phase of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly election compared to the first round since the region has a high concentration of Muslims, influenced by the religious leaders of the Barelvi and Deoband sects.

    The polling in the second phase of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly election will be held on February 14 and a notification for the same will be issued on January 21.

    Both the important seats of the Barelvi and Deobandi sects — Bareilly and Saharanpur respectively — will go to polls in this phase.

    The 55 Assembly segments of the western districts of the state — Saharanpur, Bijnor, Amroha, Sambhal, Moradabad, Rampur — and of the Rohilkhand region’s Bareilly, Budaun and Shahjahanpur districts will go to polls in the second phase.

    Of the 55 seats, the BJP had won 38 in 2017, while the main opposition Samajwadi Party (SP) bagged 15 and the Congress two.

    The SP and the Congress contested the last Assembly election in an alliance.

    Of the 15 seats won by the SP, Muslim candidates emerged victorious in 10.

    Of the 58 seats that will go to polls in the first phase, the BJP had won 53, the SP and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) got two each and the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) bagged one.

    Maulana Tauqir Raza Khan, the president of the Ittehad-e-Millat Council (IMC) and the religious guru of Barelvi Muslims, has announced his support to the Congress candidates in the five poll-bound states, including Uttar Pradesh and Punjab.

    Keeping in mind the large Muslim population, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi has also fielded candidates in some of the seats in the region.

    Uttar Pradesh BJP vice president and MLC Vijay Bahadur Pathak told PTI that his party will win more seats than before in the second phase too because “ever since the BJP government was formed at the Centre and in the state, all sections of the society have developed and this is clearly felt by all”.

    “The aggrieved public will not give a chance to parties like the Congress that headed the government for long, or the SP and the BSP, which have been in power in the state continuously for 15 years, during which loot and corruption continued unabated,” he said.

    SP chief Akhilesh Yadav had formed alliances with both the Congress and the BSP for different elections and people have taught him a lesson, Pathak said.

    The SP had formed an alliance with the Congress in the 2017 Assembly polls and with the BSP and the RLD in the 2019 Lok Sabha election.

    In both the elections, the politics of the alliance worked as compared to that of the BJP’s in this region.

    But this time, with the SP, the BSP and the Congress going it alone, critics claim that there will be a split of votes and the BJP can benefit from it.

    The BSP has fielded Muslim candidates in the area and a split of the Dalit and Muslim votes is also expected.

    The Mayawati-led party has become active and apart from its MPs, its national general secretary Satish Chandra Mishra has also toured this region extensively.

    In the 2017 Assembly polls, the SP-Congress alliance had won 17 seats in the area and in the Lok Sabha election, of the 11 seats, seven had gone to the SP-BSP alliance with the BSP getting Saharanpur, Nagina, Bijnor and Amroha and the SP winning Moradabad, Sambhal and Rampur.

    The formula of an alliance of Muslim, Jat and Dalit voters was successful in this region.

    This time, the SP has formed an alliance with the RLD and the Mahan Dal, which has influence among the voters of western Uttar Pradesh, and both parties are believed to hold considerable sway over the Jat, Shakya, Saini, Kushwaha, Maurya and Koiri fraternities in the region.

    Akhilesh Yadav and his uncle Shivpal Yadav have their own influence in the Yadav community.

    The SP is also trying to capitalise on the issue of arrest of Rampur MP and former minister Azam Khan, who has been in the Sitapur jail for nearly two years now in land-grabbing and other criminal cases.

    Akhilesh Yadav has accused the BJP of implicating Khan in fake cases.

    SP’s national secretary and chief spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary told PTI that his party’s alliance is very strong in the areas going to polls in the second phase.

    “BJP’s ground has slipped from under its feet and its lies and fraud have been exposed. This time, the people of Uttar Pradesh will send the BJP on an exile,” he said.

    Another SP leader pointed out that Swami Prasad Maurya and Dharam Singh Saini, who resigned as ministers recently and joined the SP, will add strength to the SP-RLD alliance and along with Keshav Dev Maurya of the Mahan Dal, they will ensure that the BJP is “wiped out” from the region.

    Swami Prasad Maurya’s daughter Sanghamitra Maurya is a BJP MP from Badaun.

    The Congress has also started working out equations to strengthen its ground.

    On Monday, Maulana Tauqir Raza Khan, the religious guru of Barelvi Muslims, announced his support to the Congress candidates in the in the five poll-bound states.

    He made the announcement at a joint press conference with state Congress chief Ajay Kumar Lallu.

    Expressing his gratitude to Khan, Lallu said in the coming days, the party will form the government in Uttar Pradesh.

  • Nadda announces BJP’s alliance with Apna Dal, Nishad Party in UP

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: BJP president J P Nadda on Wednesday announced an alliance with Apna Dal and Nishad Party, which draw their support primarily from sections of backward castes, for the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls.

    Details about how many seats each party will contest will be announced later, their leaders said.

    Addressing a press conference, Nadda said the three National Democratic Alliance partners in the state will fight the elections to 403-member assembly together and lauded Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath-led government for its performance on a host of issues, including law and order, investment and improvement in social indicators.

    Apna Dal chief Anupriya Patel, a Union minister, and Nishad Party supremo Sanjay Nishad hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre for working for the interests of Other Backward Classes (OBC) and hit out at the BJP’s rivals for “denying” a large section of backward communities their rights.

    Nadda claimed that the mafia used to be active in Uttar Pradesh in nexus with the government before the BJP came to power there, but the Yogi Adityanath dispensation has restored the rule of law in the state and made it a destination for investment.

    Earlier, investors were withdrawing their investment, he alleged.

    Under the ‘double-engine’ government, a reference to the BJP being power at the Centre as well as in the state, Uttar Pradesh has improved on social indicators, with connectivity and education, especially medical education, receiving a boost, he said.

    Patel said the BJP government has been a good “cocktail” of development and social justice.

    Both BJP allies said the NDA will again form a government in Uttar Pradesh and praised the state government too.

    Later talking to reporters, Patel said that seat-sharing talks are progressing in a positive manner and the broader aim of all three allies is that NDA should again form a government in Uttar Pradesh.

    Echoing similar sentiments, Nishad said the main priority is to win the election and seat sharing talks are in an advanced stage.

    Posting a picture of NDA leaders, including Home Minister Amit Shah, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and the two allies besides several others, Nadda tweeted that the alliance will again cross the tally of 300 in the state.

    Shah tweeted about the meeting with the two parties for alliance talks and asserted that the NDA will again form the government with a massive majority.

    The blessings of the people of Uttar Pradesh are with the alliance, he said.

    Both Patel and Nishad hailed the Modi government for granting constitutional status to the OBC commission and giving the community reservation in education, including in the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test.

    Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav’s daughter-in-law Aparna Yadav and late Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat’s younger brother Vijay Rawat, also a retired army officer, joined the BJP on Wednesday as the party moved to bolster its strength in poll-bound states of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

    BJP president J P Nadda also formally announced his party’s alliance for UP polls with Union minister Anupriya Patel-led Apna Dal and Sanjay Nishad’s Nishad Party that draw their strength primarily from sections of backward castes, while the state assembly Deputy Speaker Nitin Agarwal quit the Samajwadi Party, a formality before he joins the ruling party whose support had ensured his election.

    The BJP has been inducting leaders from various parties in all five poll-bound states, including Goa, Punjab and Manipur, as it seeks to retain power in four states and put up an impressive show in Congress-ruled Punjab.

    With Uttar Pradesh being the politically most crucial state, the BJP has been pulling out all the stops to strengthen its ranks after a number of its leaders, including ministers in the state government, recently joined Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party.

    The ruling party has worked to get back at the rival by inducting a few of its leaders, including MLAs, into its fold.

    Yadav, who is married to SP president Akhilesh Yadav’s half-brother Prateek Yadav, had contested and lost the 2017 assembly polls from Lucknow Cantt on an SP ticket and her defection to the BJP gives the ruling party a weapon to target Akhilesh Yadav and his party over internal differences in the family.

    Aparna Yadav (32) runs an NGO for cow welfare in Lucknow, and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s visit to the centre in 2017 had first sparked buzz about her growing proximity to the BJP.

    Inducting her into the party, Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya and UP BJP president Swatantra Dev Singh noted her inclination towards their party, and Aparna Yadav also asserted that she was always impressed with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and has put national interest first.

    Maurya was quick to attack Akhilesh Yadav, saying he has not been successful in his family and was also “unsuccessful” as chief minister and MP.

    In Lucknow, Akhilesh Yadav said his father tried hard to dissuade Aparna Yadav from joining the BJP and quipped that he was “happy” the SP’s socialist ideology is expanding its reach.

    The BJP is also hopeful that Rawat (59) joining its fold will help it in Uttarakhand where his late brother and India’s first CDS enjoyed a lot of popular goodwill.

    The Congress is working hard to defeat the ruling party in the hill state, and Rawat’s induction may help it in rallying voters in Uttarakhand where veterans live in large numbers, BJP leaders believe.

    Noting that his father, also a former army officer, was associated with the BJP, Rawat expressed happiness at working for the party and lavished praise on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying he has a unique vision and mindset.

    He thinks out of the box and all his efforts are directed towards the country’s betterment, Rawat said.

    Welcoming him into the party, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said the late CDS wanted to work for the state after retirement and his younger brother will advance his vision.

    With Other Backward Classes voters making up the largest segment of the population in Uttar Pradesh, the BJP’s announcement of an alliance with Apna Dal and Nishad Party is aimed at consolidating its support in a demography which is also being aggressively wooed by former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav.

    Patel said the BJP government has been a good “cocktail” of development and social justice.

    Both BJP allies said the NDA will again form a government in Uttar Pradesh and praised the state government too.

    Posting a picture of NDA leaders, including Home Minister Amit Shah, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and the two allies besides several others, Nadda tweeted that the alliance will again cross the tally of 300 in the state.

    Shah tweeted about the meeting with the two parties for alliance talks and asserted that the NDA will again form the government with a massive majority.

    The blessings of the people of Uttar Pradesh are with the alliance, he said.

    Both Patel and Nishad hailed the Modi government for granting constitutional status to the OBC commission and giving the community reservation in education, including in the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test.