Lucknow, In an apparent move to expand its base beyond the geographical and political boundaries of Uttar Pradesh, the Samajwadi Party is preparing to contest the Gujarat assembly elections, scheduled to be held later this year. The larger plan is to contest assembly elections in all the four states, where elections are to be held before the 2014 Lok Sabha polls to test the political waters in these states and also push for a national status for SP, which is still a state party. Eyeing on a substantial migrant population from Uttar Pradesh settled in the industrial belts of Bharuch and Vapi in south Gujarat apart from Ahmedabad and Vadodra in central Gujarat, SP national president Mulayam Singh Yadav is expected to address a meeting of the party workers in Ahmedabad on June 7. The party is expected to make the final announcement of its plans to contest the assembly elections in Gujarat at this meeting. According to party insiders, a host of senior SP leaders including chief minister Akhilesh Yadav will also hold meetings thereafter. South Gujarat general secretary of Samajwadi Party, Gulab Singh met Mulayam recently in Delhi, and it was decided that SP supremo will visit ...
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New Delhi, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Thursday said the issues of the pilots of Air India should be sorted out immediately. "This issue should be raised in the parliament," Naqvi told media outside parliament. Taking a strong view of the agitation, the Air India management has so far sacked 36 pilots. The Air India management had earlier argued before the court that inter-union rivalry between erstwhile Air India and the Indian Airlines was the reason behind the strike. According to the management, there were two aircrafts at the centre of the controversy - the Boeing 787 Dreamliner and the Boeing 777 - and who should be trained on them. The unions were not in agreement whether pilots from Air India or Indian Airlines should be trained on the two aircraft. A decision was taken that the training on the Dreamliner would be in the ratio 1:1 and that had already begun. Aggrieved by this decision, the Indian Pilots Guild moved the High Court and the Indian Commercial Pilots Association moved the Supreme Court. On April 23, the Supreme Court said that the training in the 1:1 ratio would continue. Despite this order the Indian Pilots ...
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New Delhi, The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday in a sharp response to Sonia Gandhi's "fashionable" comment said, that the United Progressive Alliance (UPA)- II government had failed to address the problems of people. Congress president Sonia Gandhi, chairing the Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) meeting had earlier commented that it has become "fashionable" for the Opposition to criticise the policies of the government without studying them. BJP spokesperson Gopinath Munde, addressing mediapersons here, said that the Congress was making such statements as a result of its frustration at recent electoral losses. "I believe that this comment was made for two reasons. First, the Congress' disappointment at its loss in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls, as well as the civic corporation polls in Maharashtra and Delhi. Secondly, the Prime Minister had promised that they would have solutions to people's problems within 100 days of coming to power, but the UPA has failed to address them," Munde said. Speaking about the drought situation in Maharashtra, Munde said the BJP had called upon the PM to arrive at a solution. "The Prime Minister did not make a definite ...
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Varanasi, Refusing to comment on the Ayodhya issue, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Uma Bharti has said she remained unapologetic about her association with the campaign that led to the demolition of the Babri mosque. "I am never worried that my name is associated with Babri mosque demolition case. In fact, I feel that my association with Ayodhya movement will be a boon for my upcoming seven generations. I am unapologetic for being involved with Ayodhya movement. I have never repented for this and I still do not regret it," Bharti told media here. The CBI has appealed in the Supreme Court that senior leader Lal Krishna Advani along with other leaders should face trial in the demolition case. The agency opposed the separation of trial of eight accused leaders -- Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Uma Bharti, Vinay Katiyar, Ashok Singhal, Giriraj Kishore, Vishnu Hari Dalmiya and Sadhvi Rithambara -- from 41 others, mainly kar sevaks, allegedly involved in the demolition of the disputed structure on December 6, 1992. It said separation of the trial, which has found favour with the trial court and the Allahabad High Court, is totally erroneous. CBI has challenged the ...
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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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Dharamshala, Once again exposing the widening fissures within Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Himachal Pradesh, party national vice-president and Rajya Sabha member from the state Shanta Kumar on Sunday overtly spoke out in favour of Himachal Lokhit Party (HLP) leaders, maintaining that the state BJP leaders under the influence of power and wealth have turned a blind eye to internal matters of the party. Addressing a press conference here, Shanta Kumar said, "Our leaders are under the influence of their acquired wealth and power and therefore have lost consciousness about party matters. He said that merely talking about 'mission repeat' will not bring back the party into power as most of our senior workers have left the party." "I cannot forget the contribution of Maheshwar Singh, Shyama Sharma, Radharaman Shashtri and Mahender Sofat towards our party. Today they have left the party and without them the party is unlikely to come back to power," he added. He said Himachal is comparatively an easy turf for the party but there is still neck to neck competition with the opposition. "Mahender Sofat has established the party in Shimla, Solan and Sirmaur during 1990s. He left ...
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New Delhi, Evading posers on who will be the next presidential candidate, former President Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam has said patience needs to be exercised on the matter. "Let us wait for sometime, please ask me after some time," Kalam told media here. His remarks come at a time when political parties are holding meetings to arrive a consensus on who will be next president of India. Recently, Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Shahid Siddiqui Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Shahid Siddiqui on Monday welcomed Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar's suggestion that the president of the country should be a non-political person, and said his party would definitely back Dr. Kalam if there is a consensus on his name. Siddiqui said Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav had proposed the name of Kalam to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 2002, and added that his party would like to see the renowned nuclear scientist return to Rashtrapati Bhavan. "The name of Dr. Abdul Kalam is also being suggested by many groups and parties. Mulayam Singhji had proposed his name in 2002 to Atalji (former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee), and Atalji accepted that and Kalam Sahab ...
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New Delhi, The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Friday said the government seems to have decided against any more reforms as the prime minister's economic advisor Kaushik Basu had said reforms were not possible till the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. Basu, who is accompanying Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on a visit to the US, had said that post-2014 "you would see a rush of important reforms" and after 2015, India would be one of the "fastest growing" economies of the world. Reacting to this, BJP leader Rajiv Pratap Rudy told IANS: "It is an indication that the government has conclusively taken a call that no more reforms can take place in the UPA II." Rudy said allies were no more supporting the government on anything, whether it was on bills or the "burden" of charges against the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) like graft and price rise. "Major alliance partners will not like to go with the Congress any more...the burden of charges on the UPA government, be it graft or price rise, allies are no more with them," Rudy said. "The trust in alliance partner has waned...It sounds of impending elections," he said. Speaking at the Carnegie Endowment meet in ...
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Lucknow, The Samajwadi Party government on Thursday withdrew over 450 homeguards deployed for the security of various memorials and parks built in the city the name of dalit icons by previous chief minister Mayawati. An inquiry has also been ordered to find out under what circumstances the previous regime had decided to demolish the Parikalp Nagar residential colony meant for irrigation department engineers. The colony was demolished for expansion of the eco-garden project which was later merged with Budh Vihar Shanti Upvan. Minister for homeguards and vocational education, Brahma Shankar Tripathi told journalists, "The homeguards deployed for the security of memorials, statues and parks have been withdrawn with immediate effect." He said that these homeguards were deployed in addition to the Suraksha Vahini raised especially for the security of these projects. "As there is a dedicated force for the security of memorials, there is no need to deploy home guards. They can be used for other tasks as per the requirement," he added. The minister further said that the homeguards were posted at dalit memorials for the past three years. "Their deployment was causing unnecessary ...
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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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New Delhi, After winning its first battle in the Lok Sabha, the UPA government secured a victory in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday on the issue of the fiercely contested National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC). The amendments moved by the BJP and the Left to the President's address against the anti-counter terror unit were defeated in the Upper House. The amendments could garner only 82 votes in favour, while 105 members opposed it. The BJP staged a walkout after the vote, expressing unhappiness with the Prime Minister's reply on the issue. Trinamool Congress MPs were absent during the voting, while SP and BSP members voted in favour of the government. On Monday, three amendment motions moved by the opposition on the anti-terror intelligence hub were defeated in the Lok Sabha. The Trinamool Congress, a bitter critic of the NCTC but part of the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA), lent tacit support to the government in defeating the amendments after its MPs walked out of the house and didn't participate in the voting. Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MPs also walked out. The amendments were moved by the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Left and the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) after ...
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New Delhi, In a major relief to the government over the fiercely contested National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC), three amendment motions moved by the opposition on the anti-terror intelligence hub were defeated in the Lok Sabha Monday. The Trinamool Congress, a bitter critic of the NCTC but part of the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA), lent tacit support to the government in defeating the amendments after its MPs walked out of the house and didn't participate in the voting. Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MPs also walked out. The amendments were moved by the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Left and the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) after Prime Manmohan Singh told the house that the proposed anti-terror agency was crucial in "dealing with terrorism and dealing with it effectively". Manmohan Singh was responding to the debate on the Motion of Thanks to President Pratibha Patil's address. The prime minister in his speech said consultations with state governments over the NCTC would continue and that the anti-terror agency would not be commissioned till a meeting was held with all chief ministers April 16. Not impressed by Manmohan Singh's assurances, BJP's Sushma Swaraj, ...
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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, Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday took oath to office here, to become at 38, the youngest chief minister of India's largest state, Uttar Pradesh. Along with him, 47 ministers were also sworn into office. They included 9 Cabinet Ministers and 28 Ministers of State. Thursday's swearing-in ceremony tok place nine days after the Samajwadi Party secured an absolute majority in the seven-phased state assembly elections. Akhilesh and his party won 224 of the 403 state assembly seats. Akhilesh had invited top leaders across party lines to the ceremony, including UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, CPI-M's Prakash Karat and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar Akhilesh Yadav's name was proposed in a key party meet by senior leader Azam Khan, and was supported by the members of the Samajwadi Party at the legislative board meeting. ...
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Lucknow, Former Uttar Pradesh chief minister and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) president Mayawati Tuesday filed her nomination for the Rajya Sabha. BSP leader Munqad Ali also filed the nomination along with her. With 80 seats in the 403-member assembly, BSP members can be elected on two seats in the upper house. Elections for 10 Rajya Sabha seats from the state will be held on March 30. ...
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New Delhi, Communist Party of India (CPI) leader D. Raja on Monday slammed the economic polices of the Congress-led UPA Government at the Centre. "Right now, my party CPI has been striving for uniting all left democratic forces against the neo-liberal economic policies of the government. I do not know what is the talk about that front, because it is not readymade thing that people can talk about whenever they like. We are talking about an alternative to the neo-liberal economic policies pursued by the Congress and UPA II government," said Raja. He also took a dig at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on the issue, saying there was not much difference between the former and the ruling Congress Party. "We do not see much difference between Congress and BJP as far as economic policies are concerned. So we have to really work for an alternative," he added. Meanwhile, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi ruled out the possibility of the formation of a Third Front. Naqvi said the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) would emerge stronger in the near future. "I don't see any such possibilities. As far as the Bharatiya Janata Party or the NDA is concerned, the ...
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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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Lucknow, Suspense over the chief ministerial candidate from Samajwadi Party still persists though fresh developments and the statements of the party leader suggest that Akhilesh Yadav may be anointed the new Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister. State president Akhilesh Yadav, who had consistently been in favour of his father and party president Mulayam Singh Yadav becoming the chief minister in the eventuality of an SP government in Uttar Pradesh, today added to the suspense saying a decision in this regard would be taken tomorrow. The central parliamentary board on March 7, had already put the stamp on Mulayam as CM and sources too said that the board had favoured the senior Yadav to become the CM. Party sources, however, indicated that Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav might crown Akhilesh as the next CM when the SP Legislature party meets in Lucknow tomorrow. Talking to reporters here at the state party headquarters, a smiling Akhilesh said only one person could become the CM and the decision would be made tomorrow. His statement added fuel to speculation about the chief ministerial candidate from the SP as all the senior SP leaders including party general secretaries Ram Gopal ...
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Lucknow, The Samajwadi Party, which got an absolute majority in Uttar Pradesh, would choose its next chief minister after Holi, amid demands from the party's parliamentary party members that Akhilesh Yadav be handed over the reins of the state. "The meeting of legislators will be held after Holi to decide the future chief minister's name," party sources said here. The legislators meeting, which was earlier scheduled for this evening was postponed keeping in mind the convenience of newly-elected MLAs due to the festival of Holi. Earlier this morning, a meeting of the SP parliamentary board was held in which majority of members pitched for state president Akhilesh Yadav as the next chief minister. However, the final decision will be taken by party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav. "Majority of MLAs are in favour of making Akhilesh the next CM. At the meeting of legislators, they will put in their views on the issue", party national general secretary Naresh Agarwal told PTI. A number of MLAs, who reached here at the party headquarters met Mulayam Singh Yadav and congratulated him for the victory of the party. "Now, the SP leaders will meet the governor for forming the ...
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