News Analysis India

Tag: Uttar Pradesh Polls

  • UP polls: PM Narendra Modi pitches development agenda, accuses previous state governments of loot

    Express News Service

    LUCKNOW: Pitching in for the development agenda ahead of the first phase of UP assembly polls on February 10, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday lashed out at the previous state governments accusing them of drifting away from people’s issues and their needs and focusing on their only agenda to loot the state.

    Addressing voters in Mathura, Agra and Bulandshahr days before the first phase of the state assembly polls virtually, Modi said the people of Uttar Pradesh had decided to go with development as the biggest issue in the upcoming assembly election.

    “The people of UP have decided to ignore those who do politics on the basis of money, muscle power, casteism, communalism, they will not get the love of the public,” he said.

    Modi said it a the age of those politicians who serve people by becoming their ‘sevak’ (servant) and got their blessings.

    Taking a swipe at Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav over his recent statement that he saw Lord Krishna in his dream, the prime minister said, “Witnessing the immense support for the BJP, these people are now seeing Lord Krishna in their dreams.”

    Meanwhile, in a bid to give a further push to the prospects of saffron, Union Home Minister Amit Shah to sought people’s support in Baghpat for putting  Uttar Pradesh at number one among the most developed states in the country.

    “Today UP is the second largest economy in the country. Give us another opportunity to make it there to most economic power in the country,” said Shah while addressing a gathering in Baghpat on Sunday.

    Both PM and Shah commenced their speeches by paying tribute to Lata Mangeshkar, the nightingale of India, who passed away on Sunday morning.

    Shah listed the development projects undertaken by the Yogi Adityanath government in jat land of Baghpat during the last five years.

    In 2017 assembly election, BJP has won the Baghpat seat and the party has repeated sitting MLA Yogesh Dhama while SP-RLD has reposed faith in Ahmad Hamid of Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD).

  • BJP names 45 more candidates for Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The BJP named 45 more candidates on Sunday for the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls, fielding Sanjay Sinh from Amethi and Daya Shankar Singh from Ballia Nagar.

    Daya Shankar Singh and his wife Swati Singh, currently a minister in the state government, were both seeking the party ticket to contest from Sarojini Nagar, a seat currently represented in the Assembly by the latter, but the ruling party fielded former Enforcement Directorate (ED) officer Rajeshwar Singh from there.

    The party has dropped the incumbent MLA, Surendra Singh, and fielded state minister Anand Swaroop Shukla from Bairia.

    Sinh hails from the erstwhile royal family of Amethi and had joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2019 after quitting the Congress.

  • Brahmin not caste but superior way of living life: Uttar Pradesh Deputy CM Dinesh Sharma

    By PTI

    NOIDA: Brahmin is not a caste but a superior way of living a life, senior BJP leader Dinesh Sharma said on Sunday, noting that his party works for all without any discrimination.

    Addressing a poll campaign in Jewar in Gautam Buddh Nagar, the Uttar Pradesh deputy chief minister hit out at opposition parties for being “casteist”.

    While campaigning for Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Dhirendra Singh in Jewar, Sharma said he has been travelling across the state in the run up to the assembly polls and is often asked about his views on Brahminism and the party’s position on casteism.

    “Someone asked me for my thoughts on Brahmins, I said BJP wants ‘sabka saath, sabka vikas’. Neither Brahmin, nor Gujjar or Jats. Every caste has its significance and that’s why we have a bouquet of all castes here in support (of the BJP),” Sharma said.

    “But when I was linked to Brahminism, I said yes, I am a Brahmin and I am proud of it. I do not see it as any disrespect,” he added.

    Sharma said a Brahmin’s work is ‘sarve bhavantu sukhina’, one who feels happiness in others’ happiness is a Brahmin.

    Stating that he is also a teacher by profession, Sharma said earlier, only teachers were called Brahmins as they worked for the welfare of people and “considered as gods” across castes out of respect.

    “So, from where has this new caste come? Brahmin is not a caste, a superior way of living life is called Brahmin. Whether teaching or (in field of) education, or whatever the work, he’s not in conflict with any caste. From birth to death, it is these Brahmins who perform works for good luck,” Sharma said.

    This is not my definition but the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘sabka saath, sabka vikas’, he said, adding that that the BJP works for all.

    “The BJP works for the backward classes, Jats, Gujjars, Thakurs, Vaishya and everyone. We have ministers, MLAs, MLCs across castes. We have not discriminated among people like other parties do,” he said, hitting out at the opposition.

    The deputy chief minister listed several public welfare schemes of the BJP-led central government and the Uttar Pradesh government, to drum up support for the party for the upcoming polls.

    Sharma also recalled his visits and interactions, among others, with the Muslim community in places like Aligarh and Lucknow and said the BJP is getting support from across communities.

    Jewar in Gautam Buddh Nagar district of western Uttar Pradesh goes to polls on February 10 during the first phase of assembly elections in the state.

    The counting of votes will take place on March 10.

  • UP polls: Akhilesh rejects BJP’s double engine rhetoric, alleges betrayal of farmers

    Express News Service

    LUCKNOW: Rejecting the oft repeated BJP rhetoric of ‘double engine’ rule, Samajwadi Party chief and former UP CM Akhilesh Yadav claimed that the ruling dispensation of the BJP both at the Centre and UP had betrayed the farmers of the state due to their wrong policies.

    While interacting with media persons as part of his campaign in Aligarh on Saturday, Akhilesh claimed that in the current polls, the voters had decided to root out the BJP from the first phase itself. He reiterated that the SP would be getting 400 of 403 seats this time leaving three for the saffron camp.

    “Farmers had to protest for a year against the three contentious farm laws. As elections approached in Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, the BJP withdrew the black laws,” the SP chief said, adding that the saffron party had “destroyed” the farmers.

    He sought an explanation from the ruling party as to why the three farm laws were rolled back if the party was finding them favourable for the country’s farmers earlier.

    ALSO READ: ‘Why would he listen to you’: Amit Shah cautions RLD chief Jayant over tie-up with Akhilesh

    The SP chief claimed that the BJP had betrayed the farmers by not fulfilling its promise of double income for farmers. “We should come together to defeat them,” he added.

    Calling the upcoming elections vital for India’s politically most crucial state, the SP chief said it would decide the future of the country and its democratic set-up as well.

    The SP president said the upcoming Uttar Pradesh polls was going to be “bhaichara” versus the BJP, adding that the saffron party was indulging in negative politics as opposed to the positive one practised by his party.

    Calling out the BJP’s slogan “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas,” the SP chief said it was the most fake and deceptive catchline coined by the ruling party.  He also raised the issue of dousing Amar Jawan Jyoti at India Gate. It may be recalled that the Amar Jawan Jyoti flame at India Gate was merged with the Eternal Flame at the National War Memorial, barely 400 metres away, last month. However, many including ex-servicemen and opposition leaders had criticised the Centre’s decision.

    Moreover, Akhilesh referred to the upcoming Central Vista saying the saffron party was bringing in a new parliament and might change the Indian constitution as well. Akhilesh also hit back at Yogi Adityanath over his ‘garmi’ jibe asking if “our baba Chief Minister is a compressor”. “If he feels so much garmi (heat), he should go back to Uttarakhand,” said Akhilesh.

    Notably, CM Yogi has been launching a veiled attack on the SP in his poll rallies across western UP saying that the candidate of “Tamanchawadi Party” from Kairana is threatening that the “garmi (heat)” is yet to calm down. “After March 10, the heat will cool down,” the Uttar Pradesh CM has been claiming.

    Akhilesh is making his debut in the UP Assembly elections by contesting from Karhal constituency in his traditional stronghold of Mainpuri.

  • Uttar Pradesh polls: BSP releases list of 54 candidates, fields Khwaja Samsuddin against Yogi Adityanath

    By PTI

    LUCKNOW: The BSP on Saturday released a list of 54 candidates for the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, fielding Khwaja Samsuddin against Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath from Gorakhpur Urban constituency.

    In its latest list, the Mayawati-led party has given tickets to seven Muslim candidates.

    The Bahujan Samaj Party has fielded Santosh Tiwari from Fazilnagar assembly constituency in Kushinagar district.

    Tiwari will take on Samajwadi Party (SP) candidate and former BSP leader Swami Prasad Maurya.

    The BSP has given tickets to Prateek Pandey from Katehari and to Chandra Prakash Verma from Akbarpur.

    Both constituencies fall under Ambedkarnagar district.

    In the 2017 state assembly elections, BSP’s Lalji Verma and Ram Achal Rajbhar had won from Katehari and Akbarpur respectively.

    In November last year, Verma and Rajbhar joined the SP at a ‘Janadesh Maharally’ in Ambedkarnagar.

    The BSP has fielded its sitting MLA Uma Shankar Singh from Rasra in Ballia.

    The party has named Rajendra Singh as its candidate from Chillupar in Gorakhpur.

    The seat was earlier held by Vinay Shankar Tiwari, who quit the party and joined the SP.

    The 54 assembly constituencies for which the BSP announced its candidates cover Ambedkarnagar, Balrampur, Siddharthanagar, Basti, Sant Kabir Nagar, Maharajganj, Gorakhpur, Kushinagar, Deoria and Ballia districts.

    These districts will go to polls in the sixth phase of the state assembly elections on March 3.

  • Criminals will face ‘bulldozer’ after UP polls results: Yogi

    By PTI

    MATHURA: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath here on Wednesday warned criminals that they would face the “bulldozer” once the elections results are out.

    Adityanath was addressing a public rally in Tarauli village of Chhatta assembly constituency. “Bulldozer will move against unsocial elements and mafia after March 10,” Adityanath said, apparently referring to the raising of illegally-constructed buildings by criminals.

    He said they will be sent “notices” for their involvement in criminal activities. He also assured that the killers of Ramveer – a village Pradhan who was shot dead last week – will not be spared.

    The CM referred to riots in Kosi Kalan in Mathura and Muzaffarnagar that broke out under the Samajwadi Party government. He alleged Hindus were killed in those riots and property of traders was devastated incited by activists of Samajwadi Party.

    Adityanath said during the SP regime people were implicated in false cases and massive firing was done on “Ram Bhakts”.

    He said the colour of the cap of SP has been stained with their blood. “How astonishing is it that in spite of such acts, they are shamelessly asking people to support them,” he said in his campaign speech in support of UP minister Laxmi Narain Chaudhary.

    ALSO READ: Fielding Yogi Adityanath from Gorakhpur will also help party maintain hold on other seats in region, BJP hopes

    The CM also addressed public meetings in Goverdhan, campaigning for BJP candidate Megh Shyam, and in Mathura where he campaigned for cabinet minister Srikant Sharma. Adityanath also claimed that the third wave of Covid will be over within a week.

    He complimented Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his handling of the pandemic and held responsible massive vaccination for the stemming of the third wave. He said during the peak of Covid he and his fellow party members worked to help people, while “none of the leaders or activists of SP, BSP, or Congress came out of the four walls of their house.”

    He said the UP government is distributing tablets and smartphones among youths to pave the way for their proper online study.

    Adityanath announced that the Chhatta Sugar mill has been green-lighted and funds to that end have also been released. Besides the sugar mill, the farmers of the area will now also be benefited from the purchase of one lakh metric ton potato by PepsiCo, the Chief Minister said.

    He said factories during the SP regime were not established in the area owing to poor law and order as even people were unsafe then.

  • UP polls: Mayawati kicks off BSP campaign from Agra, says BJP, SP and Cong ‘anti-Dalit’

    By PTI

    AGRA: BSP chief Mayawati on Wednesday hit out at BJP, SP and Congress for not doing enough for Dalits and asserted that her party has a track record of working for all sections of society as she launched her party’s campaign for the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls.

    Terming the rival parties “anti-Dalit”, she said though they make various promises in their manifestos ahead of polls, they forget about them after coming to power.

    Mayawati, who has been conspicuous by her absence from the high-octane campaigning in the state, also said she has been living in Lucknow for a year and working to rebuild the BSP.

    She said some “casteist media groups” are trying to demoralise BSP supporters by saying that their party leaders are missing on the ground.

    The BSP is contesting all 403 assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh. The party has declared names of candidates for the majority of the seats. Targeting the ruling BJP, Mayawati said the party is pursuing the “narrow-minded agendas” of the RSS.

    “Their (BJP) policies are focused on promoting casteist, capitalist, and narrow-minded agendas of the RSS. This has resulted in an environment of religious tension and hate in the state,” she said.

    “People from Dalit and backward communities have not benefitted from the BJP government’s policies, including reservation in government jobs, because it has involved the private sector in most of its projects,” she added.

    “The upper caste also feels neglected under the BJP. The government’s policies have led to price rise and an increased number of people living in poverty. “It appears that the fuel prices will be increased once the elections are over. Youngsters from the state are forced to migrate due to the lack of employment opportunities,” Mayawati said.

    ALSO READ: UP elections: Mayawati launches attack on SP, Congress and BJP in first poll rally in Agra

    The BSP chief claimed the migrants who returned to the state during Covid pandemic were forced to go back due to the lack of employment opportunities in the state. She said the common people in Uttar Pradesh have only suffered under the rule of BJP, Congress, and Samajwadi Party.

    “The BSP, which has worked for the upliftment of people from all sections of society, is the only alternative for good governance,” she added. Mayawati also accused the SP of adopting a “step-motherly” approach towards Dalits and most backward sections of society.

    “After coming to power (in 2012), the SP changed names of districts we had christened after Dalit icons,” she said. “When a bill on reservation in promotion for Dalit officers was brought in Parliament, the SP tore it and did not allow it to get approved,” she claimed.

    The BSP chief said criminals and the mafia flourished under the SP government. The Muzaffarnagar riots also took place during the SP’s tenure.

    Mayawati attacked the Congress over its “hostile” attitude towards Dalits, alleging that its government had denied the Bharat Ratna to B R Ambedkar, who is considered the architect of the Indian Constitution, and to Dalit icon Kanshi Ram.

    ALSO READ: BJP, Samajwadi Party giving casteist colour to Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls: BSP chief Mayawati

    “They (Congress) also did not implement the Mandal Commission report on reservation in government jobs. After a prolonged struggle, the BSP got it implemented when the V P Singh government was in power,” she said.

    Mayawati also targeted the media for building the narrative that BSP leaders were absent on the ground.

     “Some casteist media groups have tried to demoralise our supporters by saying that BSP leaders are missing and not moving anywhere.  I have been living in Lucknow for the last year and have worked to build the party again in Uttar Pradesh. I want to tell the media that I have been busy with election work all this time and the BSP will return with a majority in Uttar Pradesh,” she said.

    Rival parties had on several occasions ruled the BSP “out of the race”. However, Mayawati hit back at them saying they would be proved wrong as had happened in 2007.

    The BSP came to power with a majority in Uttar Pradesh in 2007, proving pre-poll predictions wrong. Mayawati became the chief minister for the fourth time that year.

  • UP polls: Ex-minister Maurya who jumped ship from BJP to SP changes constituency to Fazilnagar

    Express News Service

    LUCKNOW: Former Uttar Pradesh minister Swami Prasad Maurya, who had deserted the BJP to join the Samajwadi Party with two other ministers and around half a dozen sitting BJP MLAs last month, has been given a ticket from Fazilnagar instead of his traditional stronghold of Padrauna in Kushinagar. Fazilnagar is an assembly seat adjoining Padrauna which Maurya has been representing for four terms since 2007.

    Even after joining the BJP defecting from the BSP in 2016, Maurya had contested from Padrauna and is a sitting MLA from there. Now, in Fazilnagar, Maurya will be up against the BJP’s Surendra Kushwaha, the son of incumbent BJP MLA Ganga Singh Kushwaha.

    Maurya’s name was on the SP list of three candidates, comprising Abhishek Mishra from Lucknow’s Sarojini Nagar seat and Pallavi Patel from Sirathu in Kaushambi besides Maurya. Pallavi Patel, the sister of Union minister and BJP ally Anupriya Patel, will face deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya in Sirathu.

    Since Maurya left the BJP, there was speculation that the ruling party would field a strong candidate to corner him in his pocket borough. In the meantime, senior Congress leader and the scion of Kushinagar royal family RPN Singh joined the BJP. Padrauna has been the turf of RPN Singh as he has represented it in UP Assembly for three straight terms – 1996, 2002 and 2007.

    ALSO READ: With base depleting, top Uttar Pradesh Congress leaders go AWOL

    Political circles are abuzz with speculation that RPN Singh will contest from Padrauna on the BJP ticket. In the Lok Sabha elections in 2009, he had defeated Maurya from Kushinagar parliamentary seat. The political rivalry between Maurya and RPN Singh has been going on for quite long.

    As per sources, Maurya wanted to shift his constituency from Padrauna to Fazilnagar as he was sensing anti-incumbency against him in his traditional constituency. Akhilesh Yadav obliged him purportedly fulfilling the promise made to him when he switched sides from the BJP to the SP.

    However, Maurya claimed that Fazilnagar would be a challenge for him and that the more difficult the challenge was, the better he felt. “I had said that my workers accept my popularity everywhere, so I welcome whatever has been decided for me by the party’s national president,” said Maurya after the announcement on Wednesday. However, he refused to acknowledge any challenge from RPN Singh saying, “There will perhaps be no candidate weaker than RPN Singh if the BJP fields him.”

    Meanwhile, of the three ministers who had left the Yogi government to join the SP last month, two — Swami Prasad Maurya and Dara Singh Chauhan — have shifted to other constituencies leaving their strongholds as was promised to them by the SP leadership when they deserted the BJP. Dara Singh Chauhan has shifted from Madhuban in Mau to Ghosi in the same district.

    However, the third one Dharam Singh Saini wanted the ticket from his own constituency Nakur and he has also been obliged denying a ticket to Congress strongman Imran Masood who also wanted to contest from the same constituency. Saini and Masood have been fighting against each other for quite some time in Nakur.

  • BJP announced list of 17 candidates, no mention of Hriday Narain Dikshit, Swati Singh

    By PTI

    LUCKNOW: The BJP on Tuesday announced a list of 17 candidates for the Uttar Pradesh polls and did not include Assembly Speaker Hriday Narain Dikshit and minister Swati Singh in it while Brijesh Pathak’s seat was changed.

    The names announced on Tuesday included candidates for all the nine Assembly seats in Lucknow.

    Ashutosh Shukla has been fielded from Bhagwantnagar in Unnao district where Hriday Narain Dikshit is the outgoing MLA.

    Rajrejeshwar Singh, who has taken voluntary retirement after being deputed to the Enforcement Directorate from the Uttar Pradesh police, has been fielded from Sarojini Nagar, the seat of outgoing minister Swati Singh.

    Both Swati Singh and her husband Daya Shankar Singh had been vying for the Sarojini Nagar seat.

    Incumbent Lucknow (central) MLA and minister Brijesh Pathak has been fielded from Lucknow Cantonment, burying speculations of the new entrant in the BJP Aparna Yadav, the daughter-in-law of SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav, being fielded from there.

    Aparna Yadav had contested from the seat in the previous elections but had faced defeat. According to the BJP’s list, state minister Ashutosh Tandon will contest from his Lucknow east seat.

  • Uttar Pradesh polls: Akhilesh Yadav has family assets worth over Rs 40 crore

    By PTI

    MANIPURI: Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, his wife Dimple, and their daughter own assets worth over Rs 40.14 crore, while the couple does not have any vehicle, according to the poll affidavit of the former chief minister.

    Yadav’s rival candidate from the Karhal assembly constituency, the BJP’s SP Singh Baghel, has declared family assets worth Rs 8.75 crore.

    The SP chief’s affidavit also reveals that he owns an exercise machine worth over Rs 5.34 lakh and a phone costing Rs 76,015.

    Yadav, who filed his nomination papers from the Karhal assembly constituency in Mainpuri district on Monday, does not own any firearm, while Baghel has a rifle and a revolver.

    As per the election affidavits of the two leaders, the gross value of assets of Yadav, his wife, and daughter Aditi stands at over Rs 40.14 crore, as compared to over Rs 8.75 crore of SP Singh Baghel and his family — wife Madhu and son Parth.

    Dimple Yadav has a computer worth Rs 1.25 lakh, gold ornaments weighing over 2,774 grams, and diamonds worth Rs 59,76,687, the affidavit said. The Yadav couple does not own any vehicle, according to the affidavit.

    ALSO READ: BJP one short of hitting ‘century’ of candidates facing criminal cases: SP chief Akhilesh Yadav

    The total movable assets of Yadav are worth more than Rs 8.43 crore, while that of Dimple is over Rs 4.76 crore.

    The family’s movable assets are worth over Rs 13.30 crore. Yadav has immovable assets worth over Rs 17.22 crore, while Dimple has immovable assets worth over Rs 9.61 crore. The total worth of their immovable assets is over Rs 26.83 crore. The SP chief has a liability of over Rs 28.97 lakh, while his wife has a liability of Rs over 14.26 lakh.

    As per the election affidavit, Yadav has loaned more than Rs 2.13 crore to his father Mulayam Singh Yadav; while Dimple has given over Rs 8.15 lakh to her husband.

    The total movable assets of SP Singh Baghel (and his wife and son) stand at over Rs 84 lakh — Rs 45.94 lakh belongs to Baghel, over Rs 25.91 lakh to Madhu, and more than Rs 12.14 lakh to Parth.

    ALSO READ: Akhilesh Yadav to file nomination from Karhal; says Uttar Pradesh polls to write history of next century

    The total immovable property of the Union minister stands at over Rs 7.91 crore. Currently, the 61-year-old Baghel, who is the Lok Sabha MP from Agra (SC), is the Union Minister of State for Law and Justice.

    Baghel has no liabilities on him, while his wife has a liability of over Rs 63.33 lakh, according to the election affidavit.

    The union minister in his election affidavit has said that he has three cases pending in court against him, while Yadav has one FIR registered against him, and no case is pending against him.