Bypoll results 2018: Kairana has a loud message for Modi-Shah before 2019

The Kairana Lok Sabha bypoll result has yet again underlined the challenge that Narendra Modi-Amit Shah combine is set to face in 2019 against a united Opposition. The Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) loss here is seen as yet another dent in the invincibility cloak of Prime Minister Modi and party chief Shah.

With the BJP likely to struggle a repeat of its 2014 performance in much of northern India, the Kairana loss puts into sharper focus Shah’s efforts at expanding the party in areas beyond the Vindhyas and Chota Nagpur plateau, and make inroads in the Coromandel coast states.

In 2019, the BJP needs to win in the northeastern states, West Bengal, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana to offset its foreseeable losses in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, etc.

The BJP’s Kairana loss comes on the heels of its losses in recent Lok Sabha by-polls in Phulpur and Gorakhpur in eastern Uttar Pradesh, and Ajmer and Alwar in Rajasthan.

While the BJP emerged the single largest party in Karnataka, its failure to form the government jolted the confidence that its supporters had in Shah’s abilities as a ‘master strategist’. These are not good signs as Modi and Shah prepare for 2019, and the government has its work cut out for the remainder of its term.

Bareilly woman accuses BJP MLA from Badaun of raping her for two years

A woman from Bareilly has accused Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA from Badaun Kushagra Sagar of allegedly Raping her.

The victim claimed that Sagar raped her for two-year on the pretext of marrying her.

"My mother used to work in his house and I used to accompany her there. The BJP MLA promised to marry me and raped for two years. Now when he has become an MLA he has refused to marry me," the victim said.

The woman has filed a complaint with the police and has threatened to commit suicide if justice is not served to her.

"Will commit suicide if I do not get justice, I have been receiving threats as well and have become a subject of ridicule in society," she said.

Meanwhile, the police said the case has been registered in the matter and they have begun the investigation.

7-year-old girl raped, killed in UP's Etah district; Oppn slams BJP govt

A seven-year-old girl attending a wedding ceremony was allegedly raped and strangulated to death here early on Tuesday by a man hired to set up tents on the occasion, police said.

Enraged over the incident, the victim's family blocked the Etah-Farrukhabad road while opposition parties slammed the Yogi Adityanath government for the "sudden spurt" in rape cases.

The incident in western Uttar Pradesh comes at a time when the Yogi Adityanath government is fighting public anger over the rape of a teenager allegedly by a ruling party MLA in Unnao.

According to police, the incident took place at around 1.30 am near Mandi Samiti gate on the Aliganj road here where the girl had gone with her family to attend a wedding.

Sonu Jatav (19), who was given the task of putting up tents for the marriage ceremony lured the girl, raped her and subsequently killed her, Superintendent of Police Akhilesh Chaurasia said, adding that the man was in an inebriated state.

Father of girl allegedly raped by BJP MLA beaten by UP cops, dead; updates

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An 18-year-old woman on Sunday tried to immolate herself near Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's residence, after alleging that she had been raped by a legislator of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The immolation bid took place outside the Golf Club gate of the chief minister's residence. The woman alleged that she was raped in June last year by Kuldeep Singh Sengar, the MLA of Unnao district's Bangermau constituency, around 90 km from Lucknow. She also accused the Unnao police of not taking any action and registering a case on her complaint, Vijay Sen Singh, in-charge of the Gautampalli police station, said.

In the latest development, the girl's father, who had been taken into police custody for protesting outside Adityanath's residence, died early this morning.

1. Father of alleged rape victim dies in police custody: Father of the woman who said that she was raped by a BJP MLA and his accomplices, passed away, allegedly in police custody, after he was arrested on Sunday.

He was admitted to hospital last night by Police after he complained of abdominal pain & vomiting. He passed away in early morning hours: Dr Atul, District hospital, Unnao on father of rape victim. The victim along with her family had attempted suicide outside CM residence, y'day pic.twitter.com/UqBoSI6EfI
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Bihar, UP by-poll result LIVE: Samajwadi Party wins Phulpur by 59,613 votes

UP by-poll result - Candidates of the Samajwadi party consolidated their leads over nearest BJP competitors in Gorakhpur and Phulpur Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh, ultra-modern developments confirmed. The Samajwadi party had an electoral understanding with Mayawati's BSP and tied up with local satraps. Its candidate Pravin Nishad turned into leading over Upendra Dutt Shukla of BJP by 26,510 votes in Gorakhpur on the stop of 17th spherical of counting.

In Phulpur too, SP candidate Nagendra Pratap Singh Patel become leading by using 29,474 votes after 20th round of counting.

With some greater rounds of counting still being left, the overall picture seemed that the citizens did no longer lower back the saffron party in advance of the 2019 Lok Sabha election.


The bypolls were necessitated after chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and his Deputy leader Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya vacated the Gorakhpur and Phulpur Lok Sabha seats respectively, following their election to the nation legislative council.

Maggi compliant with latest FSSAI norms, no ash added: Nestle after UP fine

FMCG major Nestle India said on Monday that Maggi complied with the latest guidelines of food safety regulator Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) and it does not add any ash to its popular noodles.

District administration of Shahjahanpur, UP, had slapped a fine on Nestle India and its distributors last week after Maggi had allegedly failed to pass the lab test and found ash content above the permissible limits for human consumption.

"Nestle wishes to categorically state that we do not add ash in any form whatsoever during the manufacturing process of its Maggi noodles," Nestle India Chairman and Managing Director Suresh Narayanan told reporters here.

Speaking on the sidelines of a CII event here, he said the company has received the order of the district administration and will decide on the future course of action after studying it.

"We are fully compliant with the latest FSSAI guidelines which were issued in August-September this year..." he added.

He declined, however, to comment further saying that "the matter is sub-judice".

In June 2015, Nestle India withdrew Maggi noodles from the market. It had relaunched them in November after it went off the market for five months due to a ban by FSSAI over alleged presence of lead beyond permissible limits.  

Not just UP: Niti Aayog has worked on Rajasthan, MP development model too

The Centre’s main think-tank, the NITI Aayog is reportedly working on developing a growth plan for Uttar Pradesh, where the ruling BJP, came back to power after more than a decade.

According to reports, a team from the Aayog is expected to visit the state later this month to discuss the development plan with senior officials and ministers of the state government.

However, this is not first time that the Aayog has helped a state in undertaking reforms or suggesting a roadmap for its growth.

Infact, cooperative federalism is at the very core of Aayog’s philosophy and working.

The Aayog which has replaced the Planning Commission of India has worked very closely with the Rajasthan state government to amend obsolete and unnecessary laws in the state. It also plans to do the same with Madhya Pradesh.

It is helping major states amend their land leasing laws and has so far successfully managed to convince couple of them to amend their decades-old land leasing laws.

Madhya Pradesh along with Odisha have been working on amending their land leasing laws that would make leasing legal and would also ensure that the tenant farmer gets full legal right to compensation, insurance etc in case of crop damage without impacting the legal ownership.

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CM Yogi Adityanath orders 24 hour power in district headquarters across UP

After successfully providing uninterrupted 24-hour power supply at all the 'shaktipeeths' during Navratri recently, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday ordered 18-hour power supply in villages and 20-hour at tehsil level and in Bundelkhand region.

A meeting of the state cabinet chaired by Adityanath, the second since he assumed office last month, also decided that district headquarters will get 24-hour power supply, Power Minister Shrikant Sharma told mediapersons here after the three-hour-long meeting.

The chief minister directed the power department to ensure that defective or burnt transformers should be replaced expeditously in rural areas so that agricultural operations do not suffer, he said.

Sharma said the ambitious 'Power for All' pact will be signed by Adityanath and Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal on April 14 to meet the Centre's target of making the state energy efficient by 2018.

"It was the order of the Chief Minsiter that all Shaktipeeths are supplied 24-hour power during Navratris and we have been successful in it...Examinations are on and students should get power during the night so that they do not have to suffer," Sharma said.

The chief minister directed the officials to ensure uninterrupted supply to the villages from 6 in the evening to 6 in the morning so as to help the students prepare for exams.

"It is the dream of BJP chief Amit Shah and the Chief Minister that every house, every poor, and every village get power by 2018," Sharma said. (READ MORE)

Yogi's next agenda: Reining in school fee, constructing religious circuits

After fulfilling its poll promise to waive off farm loans of the state’s small and marginal farmers, constituting anti-Romeo squads to keep a check on harassment of women and crackdown on illegal slaughterhouses, the Yogi Adityanath government is all set to bring relief to another significant support base of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) — the middle classes.

The Adityanath government is likely to move to put a cap on the fee structures of private schools in the state.

An ordinance, UP schools (regularization of fee collection), is in the works and stakeholders consulted before its placed for the approval of the state cabinet.

Parents have consistently demanded that fee charged by private schools in Uttar Pradesh, particularly in some of its bigger cities of Lucknow, Kanpur, Allahabad, Noida and others, be regulated.

Parents have complained how there are significant differences between the fee structure of schools in Delhi, where a law exists to regulate school fee, and the branches of these very schools in Uttar Pradesh, where no such law exists.

The law in the works is likely to specify penal provisions for errant schools, including cancelling of registration of schools. A fee regulating committee, headed by a retired High Court judge, will also be put in place. Rajasthan, Delhi, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra have laws to regulate school fee. (READ MORE)

Yogi Adityanath Cabinet waives off crop loans worth Rs 36,000 crore

Within a fortnight of taking office, the Yogi Adityanath-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Uttar Pradesh (UP) on Tuesday fulfilled its key poll promise, writing off crop loans of up to Rs 1 lakh for about 21.5 million small and marginal farmers.

The total waiver will be of Rs 36,359 crore — one of the highest-ever promised by a state.

Of this, Rs 5,630 crore of NPAs, or non-performing assets, of 700,000 farmers will be immediately waived. This would not only enable these farmers to seek new loans, but also clean up the account books of the banks involved. According to the official data, there are 23 million farmers in UP, of whom about 92.5 per cent, or about 21.5 million, belong to the small and marginal segments.

State Health Minister and Spokesperson Siddharth Nath Singh said the government would bear the entire burden, with no help from the Centre. He also said the state government would raise the money by floating “farmer relief bonds”.

“This is for the farmers of the state on the occasion of Ram Navami, and a step towards building Ram Rajya (kingdom of Ram),” Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma said.

Considering the burden on the state’s finances and to keep the fiscal deficit under the stipulated 3 per cent mark, the state would float Farmers’ Relief Bond to the tune of the composite crop loan waiver amount. (READ MORE)

Mahakaushal Express accident: Crack in tracks apparently led to derailment

A crack in the tracks prima facie caused the derailment of eight coaches of Mahakaushal Express near Mahoba station in Uttar Pradesh on Thursday.

Speaking on the sidelines of a function, Minister of State for Railways Manoj Sinha said that "according to the Divisional Railway Manager, prima facie fresh weld failure on left side caused the derailment."

Fresh welding means it was not an old crack and that the crack developed suddenly and could not be detected.

While the UP ADG (Law and Order) Daljit Chaudhary said 52 passengers were injured in the mishap, Sinha said 21 were injured, including one seriously.

The derailment took place near Mahoba station in Uttar Pradesh.

The DRM of Jhansi Division and General Manager of North Central Railway have rushed to the site after the accident to supervise the rescue and relief operations. (READ MORE)

Adityanath orders closure of all slaughter houses in UP

In keeping with the BJP's manifesto, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday directed police officials to prepare an action plan for closure of slaughter houses across the state.

He also ordered a blanket ban on smuggling of cows and said zero tolerance would be exercised in this regard.

Official sources did not specify the type of slaughterhouses which will be shut.

However, the BJP manifesto had said that all the illegal slaughter houses would be closed and there would be a blanket ban on all the mechanised slaughterhouses.

The BJP document had observed that due to cow smuggling, dairy-based industries have failed to flourish.

It noted that during the past state governments there has been a fall in cattle count, reflecting that bovine smuggling was rampant.

BJP Chief Amit Shah in his election meetings had emphasised that the moment his party comes to power in the state, it would ban all slaughter houses.

In his orders issued today, Adityanath also directed the police to act tough against anti-social elements.

He warned that those using police security as "status symbol" would come under the scanner and after review of their threat perception their security might be changed. (READ MORE)

Debacle in UP casts doubts about Rahul Gandhi's elevation to Congress chief

Several in the Congress believe Rahul Gandhi made poor choices in UP, for which he needs to take responsibility.

Some hard questions are being asked about Rahul Gandhi’s leadership following the Congress’s shocking election debacle in Uttar Pradesh, with the Narendra Modi juggernaut ensuring the BJP steamrolled all rivals.

In the immediate aftermath of the results, Rahul’s friend and National Conference leader Omar Abdullah summed it up that there is no leader today with a pan India acceptability who can take on Modi and the BJP in 2019.

While Abdullah’s blunt statement has not been taken kindly by the All India Congress Committee (AICC), many in the party are raising the same question.

Congressmen are suggesting that a naive Rahul played into the hands of Modi by agreeing to a pre-poll alliance with the Samajwadi Party (SP).

Former AICC spokesperson Rashid Alvi, however, put it differently. “Congress made a pre-poll alliance with SP and this alliance became an alliance of Muslim community. The BJP took advantage of it and played the game of polarisation in UP politics.”

Restructuring: Tata Motors rolls out VRS, moves to a flat five-level hierarchy

Former Congress Working Committee (CWC) member Harikesh Bahadur said that the politics of alliances in Uttar Pradesh doomed the party as partymen became “frustrated” because they were raring for a fight with the BJP all over the state.

Suggesting that the Congress opposition to demonetisation became counterproductive, Bahadur, who hails from eastern Uttar Pradesh, claimed that the note ban issue helped the BJP in a major way in rural areas.

Former Congress MP Sandeep Dikshit’s remarked that “In Congress it can’t be business as usual… We have to seriously decide if we are going to do the ideological and strategic change that is required” to make a comeback in the future, which reflected the deep frustration among partymen who see no light at the end of the tunnel. 

Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee general secretary Umesh Pandit made it plain, demanding that Rahul quit owning moral responsibility for the debacle, the latest among a series of  defeats for the party, beginning from the Lok Sabha elections in May 2014. Read more

11-year-old Pakistani girl writes to Modi, asks him to take steps towards peace, friendship

BREAKING NEWS - Congratulating Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) historic mandate in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections, an eleven year old Pakistani school girl wrote to him saying that he should now focus towards winning more hearts of Indians and Pakistanis alike, by becoming a bridge of peace between the two nations.

In her letter, Aqeedat Naveed highlighted the need for peace between India and Pakistan, and said that Prime Minister Modi can help speed up the process, reports DunyaNews.

"Once my father told me that winning of hearts is a marvelous job. Perhaps you have won the hearts of Indian people, therefore you won the election in UP. But I must tell you if you want to win more Indian and Pakistani hearts, you should take steps towards friendship and peace. Both countries need good relation. Let's make a peace bridge between India and Pakistan. Let's decide that we will not buy bullets, will buy books. We will not buy the guns, will buy the medicine for the poor people," Aqeedat wrote in the two-page letter.

Also Read : Congress debacle in UP raises questions about Rahul Gandhi's elevation to party chief

She further emphasised that the choice between peace and conflict lies open for both the nations, and signed off by congratulating the prime minister for the UP polls victory.

The fifth grader, who hails from Lahore, had earlier written a letter to Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj as well on the matter of peace and has also received several responses from officials in New Delhi.(READ MORE)

Priyanka Gandhi wants to avoid people's questions, says Smriti Irani

UP elections 2017 - Union Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Smriti Irani on Wednesday attacked Priyanka Gandhi saying the Congress leader is not campaigning in Amethi as she cannot face people's questions.

The Union textiles minister addressed rallies and press conference here, where she did not give direct reply when asked if she would be the party's chief ministerial candidate if it comes to power.

Every BJP worker wants that the party forms the next government in Uttar Pradesh, she said on the question of chief ministerial candidate.

She said that despite losing the Lok Sabha poll from Amethi in 2014 to Rahul Gandhi she has been working for the people of the constituency.

But, Priyanka Gandhi has not gone to campaign in Amethi because of the "unfulfilled" promises, she said.

"Priyanka wants to avoid people's questions," she said.

Asked if Samajwadi Party-Congress (SP-Congress) alliance has in any way affected the prospects of BJP in the state, she said Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav went with Congress because he was not confident of a victory alone.(Read More)

UP poll: No love lost between political rivals on Valentine's Day

UP elections 2017 - Even as the Valentine's Day falls today, there is apparently no love lost between the top leaders of major political parties as they crisscross poll bound Uttar Pradesh addressing public meetings and unleashing vitriolic attack on opponents.

The canvassing for the second phase of polling in 67 assembly constituencies across 11 largely western UP districts had come to an end on Monday evening with voting scheduled for Wednesday. The districts going to polls on February 15 include Saharanpur, Bijnore, Moradabad, Rampur, Sambhal, Bareilly, Amroha, Pilibhit, Kheri, Shahjahanpur and Badaun.

The politicking for the phase II polling nonetheless witnessed top mascots of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Samajwadi Party (SP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Congress upping the ante to corner their opponents with a view to consolidating their core vote banks.

Senior political leaders who addressed rallies on Monday across UP, included Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP President Amit Shah, Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi, BSP President Mayawati, SP President and UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav.

While, Modi and Rahul addressed well attended public meetings in Kheri, Mayawati and Akhilesh were the star campaigners and speakers at election rallies in Etawah and Badaun districts respectively.(Read More)

UP polls 2017: More women losing deposits, fewer winning elections

UP elections 2017 - Poor, populous Uttar Pradesh (UP) was the first Indian state to have a female chief minister–Sucheta Kriplani from 1963 to 1967–but this pioneering effort has not improved prospects for women in elections.

As voter turnout has risen, more competitors have stood against women candidates, fewer women have won and a growing number have lost their deposits, according to an IndiaSpend and Swaniti Initiative analysis of electoral data of the last three state elections in UP since 2002.


The only exception was for the seats reserved for scheduled caste (SC) candidates. The proportion of women winning SC seats was more than double that of those winning general seats.

All this happened over a period when women in India’s most populous state became healthier and better educated, reinforcing the point that there is no correlation between these indicators and better political representation of women.
States with the worst sex ratios have more women members of legislative assemblies (MLAs), as IndiaSpend reported in September 2015.

Roughly over the same period of our study, female literacy in UP grew from 42.2% in 2001 to 59.3% in 2011, and the sex ratio improved from 898 to 908, according to census data compiled by the NITI Aayog. (Read More)

PM Modi's letter defending note ban gets delivered in every UP household

Election 2017- Prime Minister Narendra Modi has written a letter addressing voters in Uttar Pradesh saying that his government's surprise demonetisation measure was necessary to root out corruption and prevent terrorism, reported The Economic Times on Tuesday.

According to the report, over 1,600 motorcycle-borne activists have been tasked with the duty of delivering the prime minister's letter to 2,75,000 households every day.

The move comes at a time when the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) might not be fairing as well in Uttar Pradesh as the party had initially thought. As reported earlier, there is a noticeable defensiveness among BJP voters and supporters this time around regarding the note ban and every time the questions related to the issue crop up. Further, the BJP’s local offices, which in 2014 brimmed with people prematurely celebrating Narendra Modi’s victory before counting, have been muted. (Read more)

A young party official of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh provenance in Rampur, who had his nose to the grindstone when the Lok Sabha polls were underway, told Business Standard that he “lost interest” this time. “I have nothing to say to our voters when they pose uncomfortable questions on demonetisation. I am packing my bags and taking a vacation in my village,” he said. The official’s main worry was that demonetisation had begun to "chip away" at Prime Minister Modi’s image. "Modiji has invested much personal and political capital in it but people ask me, does he not understand our hardships? Why did he make us suffer?" he added. (Read More)

Brand Akhilesh Yadav and the American style of campaigning

UP Elections 2017 - The 2014 general elections represent a watershed in the Indian electoral history in many ways. For one, it changed forever how campaigns are conducted in the country. The Lok Sabha poll campaign saw the then Gujarat chief minister, Narendra Modi, creating a parallel campaign machinery outside of the party to take his word to the people. His campaign to become the Prime Minister had, in fact, kicked off even before the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) named him its Prime Ministerial candidate.

Citizens for Accountable Governance (led by political strategist Prashant Kishor) helped Modi run a political campaign that could have given any MNC giant a run for its money. Through his 360-degree campaign, Modi reached out to disparate voters using their own communication mediums. What made it stand out was the campaign’s focus on modern technology – social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp were used extensively and effectively to create a cult following for Modi and turn the election into an almost Presidential campaign. The result: Narendra Modi seemed to be the only candidate around.

Lessons from this campaign have been learnt by other political parties as well – some more than the others. Later, similar ways were used in Delhi by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), and in Bihar by Nitish Kumar, who built an unlikely alliance with his long-time bête noire Lalu Prasad, took his own message of good governance to the people, and returned to power with a landslide victory.(Read More)

UP: Woman who accused SP MLA of rape found dead in Sultanpur

UP elections 2017 - A 22-year-old woman, who had accused Samajwadi Party MLA Arun Verma of raping her along with some other youth in 2013, was found murdered near her house in Sultanpur, police said on Monday.

The body of the woman, who was missing since Saturday, was found on Sunday near a primary school in Jaisinghpur, they said. An FIR has been registered in this regard.

Police said the injury mark around her neck suggested that she was strangled to death. The body has been sent for postmortem to ascertain the cause of death.

The woman had alleged that the local MLA, who is also the SP's Sultanpur candidate for the February 27 polls, and some others had gang raped her in September 2013.(Read More)