Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Jayant Chaudhary on Thursday said that RLD will fight the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls with Samajwadi Party (SP). “We have an understanding between us, we will fight the upcoming Assembly elections together,” Chaudhary told ANI here. Samajwadi Party has formed an alliance with RLD and several smaller parties in the state for the assembly polls early next year.

Chaudhary said his party has always given the priority to the farmers. Chaudhary paid floral tributes to his grandfather and former Prime Minister Chaudhary Charan Singh at his samadhi on his birth anniversary.

Speaking on the allegations of land purchase by officials in Ayodhya, Chaudhary said that the “government takes decisions in closed rooms, which do not concern the public”. “Those officers, who have all the information in their hands, buy and distribute land there. This is the biggest corruption,” he said. Uttar Pradesh is slated to go to polls early next year.

Top Indian Army leadership under its Chief General Manoj Mukund Naravane discussed the security situation along the China and Pakistan border during the two-day Army Commanders’ Conference which began on Thursday in the national capital.

“The Army commanders discussed the security situation along the borders as well as the situation in Jammu and Kashmir,” said government officials. This is the first meeting of the top Army leadership after the death of Chief of Defence Staff Gen Bipin Rawat in a chopper crash.

Chief of Defence Staff Gen Bipin Rawat died in a chopper crash on December 8 along with his wife and 12 other personnel.

The Army commanders were briefed on the situation along the China border including the activities of the People’s Liberation Army in the eastern sector. India and China have been in a military standoff since April-May last year after the Chinese showed unilateral aggression.

India responded very aggressively to Chinese aggression and checked their actions at multiple locations. The Galwan clash also took place there in which both sides suffered casualties.

The top Army brass conducted promotion boards for senior ranks in the force. India has been working towards establishing peace in the area but has also maintained a high level of preparedness to thwart any misadventure by the enemy troops. Both sides have deployed a large number of troops in the area along with heavy weaponry. The infrastructure build-up has also been very heavy.

Ahead of Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, an opinion poll done by India News-Jan ki Baat between 22 November and 20 December 2021 has predicted victory for the BJP in Uttar Pradesh. The saffron party, which got 308 seats on its own last time, is projected to get anywhere between 233 to 252 seats of 403 seats in the UP Assembly.

SEAT SHARE PROJECTION FOR UP

As per the India News-Jan Ki Baat Opinion Poll, BJP is projected to get anywhere between 233 and 252 seats, Samajwadi Party could get between 135-149 seats, the Congress continues to remain in single digits and is projected to get anywhere between 3-6 seats, Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party could bag 11-12 seats and others may end up getting anywhere between 1-4 seats

VOTE SHARE PROJECTION FOR UP

The poll has predicted a vote share of 39% for BJP, Samajwadi Party is predicted to get its highest ever vote share of 35%, Bahujan Samaj Party may end up with a vote share of 14%, Congress is predicted to get 5% vote share and other parties are projected to get 7% vote share

55% RESPONDENTS WANT YOGI AS CM

As per the opinion poll, Yogi Adityanath is the most preferred choice as Chief Minister with 55% respondents wanting to see him return at the helm of affairs in Uttar Pradesh. 31% said Akhilesh Yadav should become CM, followed by 10% giving Mayawati a thumbs up and a mere 2% saying Priyanka Gandhi Vadra should be CM of Uttar Pradesh

MODI WAVE IN UTTAR PRADESH?

75% respondents are of the view that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s welfare schemes are a huge factor and will act in favour of the BJP in the elections.

TOP ELECTION ISSUES

23% respondents said that they will cast their vote on the issue of development. 24% said they’re going to vote on the basis of caste and religion and 21% said they will vote on the basis of law and order, while 10% said they will vote on the issue of inflation. Meanwhile, for 1%, Ram Mandir is a factor on the basis of which they’ll cast their votes.

THE ANTI INCUMBENCY FACTOR

31% respondents to the opinion poll said that there is anti-incumbency against the Yogi Adityanath government; 42% are of the opinion that there’s anti incumbency against the candidate and 27% say that there’s no anti incumbency at all. Responding to another question on if people are happy with government’s work, 52% responded in affirmative & 48% said they are unhappy.

OTHER OVERALL FINDINGS OF THE OPINION POLL:

1) Yogi Adityanath to return as CM of Uttar Pradesh; 2) BJP projected to win more than 235 seats; 3) BJP gaining from Mayawati’s depleting vote share; 4) BJP tightens grip In Awadh & Bundelkhand; 5) Despite SP gaining in Purvanchal, BJP remains ahead; 6) More women with BJP than Samajwadi Party; 7) PM Modi’s welfare schemes driving women towards BJP in Western U.P; 8) Muslim, Yadav voters are strongly with Akhilesh; 9) Mayawati’s vote share expected to further decline; 10) BJP projected to lead in Hathras and Lakhimpur Kheri; 11) 60% Jats in Western Uttar Pradesh with RLD; 12) Congress vote share will remain less than 10%; 13) BJP vote share expected to be around 39%; 14) Alliance with smaller parties helping Akhilesh; 15) Division in Kurmi Patel votes is denting BJP vote share; 16) Samajwadi Party expected to get its highest vote share; 17) for the first time in 30 years, fight for UP is largely bipolar; 18) Farmers’ protest not a factor in Purvanchal; 20) Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s “Ladki hoon, lad sakti hoon” not converting to votes.

Former Uttarakhand Chief Minister and Congress veteran Harish Rawat will attend a pre-scheduled meeting in Delhi with the party’s top leadership on Friday, confirmed party sources on Thursday. Amid the growing tensions in Uttarakhand Congress, the party’s top leadership spoke to Harish Rawat inviting him to Delhi to discuss impending issues, sources said. Rawat is scheduled to arrive in Delhi on Friday to meet the party high command.

Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Pritam Singh, Uttarakhand Congress chief Ganesh Godiyal and party leader Yashpal Arya will accompany Rawat to Delhi. The meeting holds significance following Harish Rawat’s veiled attack on the Congress leadership on Wednesday saying “nominees of those on whose directions one has to swim (in the electoral battle) are tying my hands and feet”.

A day after he made a veiled attack on the Congress leadership ahead of assembly polls in Uttarakhand over “lack of cooperation” from the state unit, Rawat spoke of his being a party loyalist who was devoted to welfare of the state. Interacting with the media in Haridwar, Rawat refused to comment on the apparent tussle in the party unit.

Rawat had on Wednesday made a veiled attack in tweets on the Congress leadership ahead of assembly polls in the state stating that the “nominees of those whose directions one has to swim (in the electoral battle) are tying my hands and feet”.

In his cryptic tweets, Rawat has also expressed anguish at factionalism in the state unit saying there was “non-cooperation” from the party organisation in the state at most places and that thought has been crossing his mind that “it is time to rest”.

Rawat, a member of the Congress Working Committee, is seen as the party’s face for the elections in Uttarakhand. Rawat had also expressed faith that Lord Kedarnath will provide him guidance in the new year.

Captain Amarinder Singh, who resigned as Punjab Chief Minister earlier this year and floated his own party, took a dig at Harish Rawat over his tweets. “You reap what you sow! All the best for your future endeavours (if there are any) @harishrawatcmukji,” he said in a tweet.

Congress leader Manish Tewari also took a swipe at Harish Rawat, who was AICC incharge of both Punjab and Assam, over the way matters were being held in poll-bound Uttarakhand.

“FIRST ASSAM THEN PUNJAB NOW UTTRAKHAND…..BHOG POORA HI PAUN GAYE KASAR NA RAHE JAWE KOI,” Tewari said in his tweet. Tewari’s tweet was also seen as a veiled reference to the party leadership’s handling of affairs in different states.

Amid ruckus by Opposition, Karnataka Legislative Assembly on Thursday passed the Protection of Right to Freedom of Religion Bill, 2021 or anti-conversion bill.

The Bill will provide for the protection of the right to freedom of religion and prohibition of unlawful conversion from one religion to another by misrepresentation, force, undue influence, coercion, allurement or by any fraudulent means. It proposes imprisonment of up to 10 years for forced religious conversion. In the Assembly, J.C. Madhuswamy, State Law and Parliamentary Affairs minister placed on record that this bill was actually initiated by Siddaramaiah-led government in 2016.

However, Siddaramaiah alleged that the draft bill prepared in 2016 was completely different from what the current state government has drafted in 2021.

Karnataka Chief Minister Basavraj Bommai said, “We know the situation of SC and ST. They are ignored and remain vulnerable. Our intention behind bringing this bill is to protect SC, ST communities and women.”

K.S. Eshwarappa, Karnataka Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister said during the discussion in the assembly, “We all are from the RSS and yes we borrowed from the RSS. RSS taught us to save this country, religion and culture. That’s why we have got this bill from that culture.”

In what will give a much-needed push to the country’s nuclear power programme, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan may give more uranium to India for its nuclear power plants. A formal decision in this regard is likely to be taken by the leaderships of both the Central Asian nations.

Top diplomatic sources told The Daily Guardian that the decision regarding uranium supply enhancement to India may be taken when the presidents of all the five Central Asian Republics (CARs) visit India as chief guests for next month’s Republic Day celebrations. This issue figured during the Central Asian dialogue which was attended by the foreign ministers of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan over the weekend, sources said.

Tajikistan and Uzbekistan have huge uranium reserves, with the former being the world’s largest producer of uranium. India is already importing this material from them. But the plants in India are currently reeling under a shortage of uranium.

Minister of State in the Department of Space and Department of Atomic Energy Dr Jitendra Singh recently told the Lok Sabha, “The current annual production of uranium in the country is not enough to meet the annual fuel requirement of all the operational uranium based nuclear power plants.” He further said, “However, we are continuously exploring the possibility of alternate fuel based on thorium in this regard for which we have enough reserves. Further, the Department is importing uranium from different countries like Canada, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Russia also,” Singh said. Sources say that the officials of the atomic energy department have been asked to expedite efforts to reach out to the countries having substantial uranium stocks.

Former Chairman of Atomic Energy Commission Anil Kakodkar also recently pointed out that India could not meet emission commitments without nuclear power. Sources told The Daily Guardian that the MEA officials were already briefed by the atomic department on this matter ahead of the visits of foreign ministers of Central Asian countries. External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar took it up with his counterparts of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, sources said.

India’s installed nuclear power capacity has grown from 4,780 MW to 6,780 MW, which is an increase of over 40%, in the last seven years, the government said in Lok Sabha. The country is pursuing an indigenous three-stage nuclear power programme to provide long term energy security in a sustainable manner. Moreover, a large expansion programme of nuclear power is being undertaken to provide the country clean electricity,” government said. MEA officials believe that the Central Asian republics with their huge natural resources like uranium can fuel India’s next phase of nuclear power mission. According to a report, India’s nuclear power expansion programme is aimed at increasing the present installed capacity of 6.78 GW to 22.48 GW by 2031.