New Delhi, Samajwadi Party today said the next President should not be chosen on the basis of whether the person belongs to the backward, minority or scheduled caste community. Asked whether the party would support Pranab Mukherjee's candidature for the President's post, SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav said, "I have not heard anybody's name. Nobody has told me about this" "As far as the President is concerned, whether the person is from minority, backward or scheduled caste community, it does not matter," he said when asked if the next President should be from the minority communty. Asked about his meeting with West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee yesterday, the SP Chief said, "This is not my first meeting with her. It is understood that if two political parties will meet, they will discuss something. "I have met her many times and it is obvious that when two political parties meet, they will discuss politics also. If that can be shared with you, we will definitely do so," he said. After an hour-long meeting at Yadav's residence, Banerjee had said that they would meet again and take a joint decision after further consultations. Yadav had yesterday said ...
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New Delhi, Holding that the President should always be a political person, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav today refused to express his opinion on probable candidates for the forthcoming election to the country's highest office. "We cannot discuss presidential election at this moment, When candidates are announced, then you can take my view," he told reporters outside Parliament House. Yadav was asked whom his party will support during the Presidential election. On whether the President should be a person with political background, he said, "The President should always be a political person." Pratibha Patil, the country's first woman President, will demit office on July 25 after completing her five-year term. Samajwadi Party, which is an outside supporters of UPA, had on Tuesday said that it would favour an eminent Muslim candidate for the top post. ...
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Lucknow, The spat between Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan and Jama Masjid's Maulana Ahmed Bukhari was resolved by party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav on Thursday. Mulayam accepted nearly all the demands of the Maulana and ended up giving him preeminence over Azam Khan. Shortly after meeting Mulayam, Maulana Bukhari told reporters that the purpose of his visit was to ensure adequate representation of Muslims in important positions in the party and government. Chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, who was accompanying Bukhari, said Umar Ali Khan (Bukhari's son-in-law) will file his nomination for the MLC elections. He said the next vacancy in the council will be filled by a Muslim and reiterated that Muslims would get due representation in the government. "We will ensure adequate representation of Muslims in the cabinet. The mistakes in shortlisting names for the cabinet won't be repeated," said Mulayam. Bukhari had reportedly told him that only three Muslim MLAs were shortlisted for the cabinet instead of five keeping in the mind the ratio of Muslim MLAs in the party. Political analysts said the crisis possibly began with Bukhari wanting to send his son-in-law to the council and ...
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Lucknow, While the CBI is yet to complete its probe into the Rs 5,700 crore NRHM scam, it has suddenly got proactive about a Rs 26 crore ayurveda scam that took place in Uttar Pradesh between 1993 and 1995 when SP president Mulayam Singh Yadav was the chief minister. On March 30, the CBI moved the Supreme Court to prosecute UP's panchayati raj minister Balram Singh Yadav. Significantly, the move coincided with Mulayam's tough posturing and comments that mid-term polls were less than a year away. Balram also happens to be a Mulayam loyalist. "The question is not what the CBI is up to, but what the Congress is up to. Is it using CBI to tame Mulayam?" asked a political analyst. Like the NRHM scam, the CBI probe into the ayurveda scam, too, was ordered by the high ...
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New Delhi, SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav slammed Team Anna as "den of criminals', renewing the face-off between the civil society group and MPs barely days after the Lok Sabha censure. Reacting to "offensive statements" made by Team Anna member Arvind Kejriwal, Mulayam Singh Yadav said Team Anna was a 'den of criminals' and Anna Hazare was surrounded by corrupt people. RJD chief Lalu Prasad said, "He (Kejriwal) is a frustrated and discarded person. We should not take notice of what he says. He will go mad in a few days." The attack from top Yadav duo showed the friction remained between the political class and the Lokpal group despite hopes that Lok Sabha censure would cool the tempers. Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar this week concluded a debate by saying that any comment which lowered the dignity of parliament was "unwarranted and unacceptable". However, the mild rap contrasted with tempers during the discussion when members sought breach of privilege proceedings against the civil society bloc. SP chief Mulayam Singh had sought their summoning to parliament to seek apology from them. The Team Anna came under attack from the political class after Kejriwal called ...
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Lucknow, Samajwadi Party (SP) national president Mulayam Singh Yadav on Friday joined the chorus with the other political giants in predicting the mid-term Lok Sabha elections. Addressing party workers on the occasion of the birth anniversary of socialist ideologue Ram Manohar Loihya, Mulayam exhorted party leaders to be ready for the mid-term polls which can which can take place within an year, although the term of present lok sabha is till 2014. Mulayam, who has made his son Akhilesh chief minister of Uttar Pradesh and has decided to play a bigger role in the national politics, also said that era of big parties ruling the country is over and coalition politics will play a major role in the coming election as well. So far, Mulayam has been cooperating with the UPA government but giving it outside issue based support but now he has hinted that the Congress cannot take SP's support in parliament for granted. The SP had recently bailed out the Congress led UPA government on the issue of National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha but at the same time the SP supremo had also made it clear that his party will not join the government at the centre ...
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Lucknow, The Samajwadi Party (SP) is not joining the Congress-led central government, party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav said Monday. "We are not joining the government," Mulayam Singh said, in response to persistent queries if the SP was planning to join the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government. He quickly added that his party was backing the central government from the outside only to prevent "communal forces" from taking power in New Delhi. The SP took office in Uttar Pradesh this month after scoring a thumping ...
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Lucknow, It was in 1994 that Akhilesh, then around 20, was clicked with his chief minister father Mulayam Singh Yadav for the first time ever during a special photo shoot for a news magazine. A little over 18 years later, Akhilesh will be clicked with Mulayam once again on Thursday, but with a difference. This time it will be their first ever photograph with Akhilesh as CM. What will however remain unchanged , is the venue: Akhilesh will take his oath of office at a grand function on the La Martiniere College grounds, exactly the same spot where their photoshoot was done in 1994. What will make the show more special will be a host of country's top political personalities, including L K Advani, former Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandra Babu Naidu and Janata Dal (United) president Sharad Yadav, turning up for the ceremony. Industrialist Anil Ambani, Bollywood icon Amitabh Bachchan and a host of VIPs will also witness history as it is made when Akhilesh will become the youngest ever CM of Uttar Pradesh. Though invitations were also sent to Mamata Banerjee and Jayalalita, both of them have are unlikely to turn up. Though political analysts started reading into the list of ...
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Lucknow, A day before the Samajwadi Party parliamentary board finally decides who will be the next UP chief minister, party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav stood firm on his decision to hand over the baton to his son, 38-year-old Akhilesh, who is now set to be the state's youngest CM. Disregarding murmurs of protests from party old-timers who are opposed to Akhilesh's leadership, Mulayam convened a late-night meeting at his residence to iron out differences and work out a compromise formula ahead of Saturday's meet. Mulayam is learnt to have conveyed to his brother Shivpal and the party's Muslim face, Azam Khan, that he was in favour of making way for Akhilesh who had galvanized the party and helped it clinch,Radhika Sahasranaman2>romp home with a thumping majority. The two are believed to have initially shown hesitation is accepting Akhilesh's elevation. Mulayam, whose health has been poor, wants Khan to propose Akhilesh's name as leader of the legislative party (and therefore CM) at Saturday's meeting and Shivpal to second it, in the time-tested way of projecting a unified face to the world and conveying that all was well. That would make both Khan and Shivpal stakeholders ...
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New Delhi, The Samajwadi Party pedalled to a podium finish in the UP polls, but a five-year-old Supreme Court order asking the CBI to inquire into an alleged disproportionate assets case of Mulayam Singh and kin could queer their victory pitch. Going by the popular perception that the CBI heeds to the Centre's command in political cases, the Yadavs could ill-afford not to take note of the spoiler that the Congress-led UPA may prove for them. And the danger is neither far off nor improbable to be brushed aside. For, on October 26, 2007, the CBI had filed an application in the SC seeking permission to proceed ahead with the case on the ground that during the preliminary probe it had stumbled upon prima facie evidence on the alleged DA case of the SP chieftain, his sons, Akhilesh and Prateek, and daughter-in-law Dimple. The CBI's plea that as an independent agency it did not take instructions from the government was filed in the court that was in the midst of hearing a petition filed by Akhilesh seeking review of the SC's March 2007 order passed on a PIL. The SC had ordered the CBI to submit the preliminary probe report to the Centre for further action. When the matter was ...
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Lucknow, With just a day left for counting of votes, the Samajwadi Party on Monday said it was hopeful of getting a majority in Uttar Pradesh and party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav will become the next chief minister. "We have a done a lot of hard work to ensure the success of the party and are hopeful of getting majority," SP state president Akhilesh Yadav told reporters here. Asked about the chief ministerial candidate of the party, Akhilesh said that 'netaji' (Mulayam Singh Yadav) was everyone's choice. "The elected legislators will decide, who will be the next CM. I think netaji is everyone's choice and will become the CM," he said. About post-poll alliances, Yadav said that the situation would become clearer after counting. On Congress leader Beni Prasad Verma's comment pitching for support to BSP, Akhilesh Yadav said that it was his view and his party had to decide on it. With exit polls predicting a hung Assembly in Uttar Pradesh, Verma, who quit Samajwadi Party in 2007 following differences with Mulayam Singh Yadav, said he would personally prefer BSP to SP, which he dubbed as a "party of ...
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Kanpur, A cautious Rahul Gandhi on Sunday sought to ensure that he stayed within the limits set by the EC even as he insisted that the original author of the quota-for-Muslims pledge was the Congress. Mulayam Singh Yadav was merely doing a me-too act promising a higher reservation for the community. Speaking in Kanpur, Rahul questioned the very legitimacy of Mulayam Singh Yadav as a genuine leader of the Muslim community. He said : "Mulayam claims to be the leader of Muslims. If that's true, he should actually specify what he did for the community during his three stints as CM." The crowd responded to him with cries of "nothing, nothing". The Congress general secretary continued : "Tell me what kind of leader is he? He claims to be your leader and does nothing for you." Insisting that Mulayam had latched on to the reservations for Muslims pledge as an afterthought, Rahul said : "When Mulayam was CM, the media would ask him his views on Muslim quotas. But he would remain tightlipped. You will be surprised to know that the state which has over 70 districts has only one Muslim DM. Now Congress has given you reservation, so Mulayam says that he would have done more." Accusing SP ...
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Kanpur, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Sushma Swaraj has called election campaign of Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi ' theatrics', which would not translate into votes. "Tearing up a list while standing on stage might make a good front-page photograph, but it cannot translate into votes. In order to get votes, one has to connect with the people and raise their issues," Swaraj told a gathering here on Saturday. Gandhi, while addressing a public gathering in Lucknow on Wednesday, tore a piece of paper carrying a list of the Mulayam Singh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party's poll promises, drawing huge cheers from his listeners. Swaraj also criticised the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) for not having done justice to a widespread mandate that had given it an absolute majority in the 2007 state poll. "The BSP had an absolute majority government, but when I hold them to account after five years, then the performance register shows a zero. Their campaign slogan did not translate into ideology or practice. In this term, they pushed aside even their main voters, and the slogan 'For the Good of All' got changed to 'For Individual Good'," Swaraj said. The Uttar Pradesh polls ...
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Gorakhpur/Hardoi, Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Mulayam Singh Yadav has said that his government would curb crime and lawlessness, if elected to power in Uttar Pradesh. "Certain parties are carrying out a malicious campaign by spreading lies that hooliganism and crime will prevail if Samajwadi Party comes to power. I promise you, that the Samajwadi Party government will not promote crime and criminals," Yadav told a gathering here on Monday. "No criminals or musclemen would be allowed to grow in the state, no matter how influential the person. Even if there is such a person in the Samajwadi Party, he will be punished. All those who spread fear and violence in the state will be sent to prison or out of Uttar Pradesh," he added. Meanwhile, former chief minister and president of Jan Kranti Party Kalyan Singh slammed all contesting parties, stressing that none of them was serious towards the welfare of the masses. "All parties and leaders are talking about development and making promises but nobody wants to do it. Nobody wants to work for the development of the villages and the farmers. They only make empty speeches," Singh said in Hardoi. The polls in Uttar Pradesh are ...
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Azamgarh/Sitapur, Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh has accused Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Mulayam Singh Yadav of being a supporter of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), as he wants to maintain a political diplomacy with them. "Mulayam Singhji became the Chief Minister in 1990 when he got the support of the BJP. I have noticed this quite often that Mulayam Singhji never says a word against the BJP or the Sangh. Why does he not say so? He does not say so because whenever there is a chance, he can form an alliance with the BJP as well. Members of the Sangh were caught while they were indulged in militancy but I did not read a single statement of Mulayam Singhji," Singh told a gathering here on Monday. Meanwhile, senior BJP leader Rajnath Singh said their party would punish the people who indulged in corruption in the state. "You should also listen to this that when the government of the BJP will be formed, a probe commission would be formed within one month. Be it the biggest leader of the Samajwadi Party or the Bahujan Samaj Party, if he is found guilty then at the first instance he will be put behind the bars in jail and ...
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Azamgarh, Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi today wound up his five-day tour of Uttar Pradesh with an attack on the ruling BSP and opposition Samajwadi Party for allegedly using Muslims as votebank. '' Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party had been in power for four times while SP remained in power thrice but sadly nothing was done to improve the lot of minorities,'' Mr Gandhi told a public meeting here. The Congress MP from Amethi said Mulayam Singh Yadav headed SP government in Uttar Pradesh thrice but did nothing for reservation to Muslims. '' Since the Congress has announced 4.5 reservation to Muslims from within the backward quota, he is raising a hue and cry for increasing it further while his inaction in this regard is well known,''he added. Hollow promises would not help the SP or BSP, Mr Gandhi alleged. ''SP and BSP had always played with the psyche of the Muslims just to garner their votes in the elections and forgot them afterwards,'' he ...
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Ballia, Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh has lashed out at Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav for trying to evoke Muslim sentiments on the controversial Babri Masjid demolition issue. Addressing a public rally here, Singh said: "The Babri Masjid was demolished by Kalyan Singh then why did Mulayam Singh Yadav fight the elections with him? Mulayamji has never answered this question. I always raised this issue. Mulyamji has never spoken against RSS. I think they have kept a door open to get in to coalition with the BJP to form a government" Increasing the political temperature in the poll bound Uttar Pradesh, Mulayam Singh Yadav had earlier reiterated that Babri Masjid existed in Ayodhya while Hindus never treated the place as holy. Singh further said that the BJP turned a blind eye to corruption in states such as Karnataka, Uttarakhand and Punjab, which it rules. "The senior leader of Bharatiya Janata Party took an anti- corruption rally all over the India but he never spoke a word about the chief minister of Karnataka and Uttarakhand chief minister who were found guilty of corruption charges. He himself had removed both the chief ministers from power ...
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New Delhi, Strongly objecting to the "unconstitutional" minority quota provision in the Lokpal bill, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Thursday demanded that the government withdraw the legislation and bring in a fresh document. "We are disappointed. This is unconstitutional. The Supreme Court has given dozens of rulings stating that any reservation should not be more than 50 percent," Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj told the house after the government tabled the anti-graft Lokpal bill in the Lok Sabha. The bill envisages the setting up of an ombudsman to check corruption in the country and bringing the prime minister under its ambit. It has also kept a provision of 50 percent reservation for Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes, women and minorities. "Take it back, return with a fresh pro-constitutional bill and we will pass that," the BJP leader said. The Samajwadi Party led by Mulayam Singh Yadav also opposed the bill and said it should not be moved beyond the introductory stage as it did not provide the basis of a strong Lokpal. Lalu Prasad of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), opposing the bill, however, complimented the government for the ...
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