NCP chief Sharad Pawar (file photo)2022 Assembly Election highlights: Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar on Tuesday said his party would contest the ensuing Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh as part of the Samajwadi Party-led alliance. He also said 13 members of the Legislative Assembly in Uttar Pradesh will be joining the Samajwadi Party.
Talking to reporters, Pawar said people of Uttar Pradesh are looking for parivartan (change) in the northern state, adding it will happen. NCP will also contest the ensuing Assembly elections Goa and Manipur, he said. In Manipur, NCP will have an “understanding” with the Congress, while in Goa, it is in talks with the Congress and the Trinamool Congress, he added. His remark comes after Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Sunday said the BJP wants to ride on the shoulders of the TMC to come to power in Goa. Shiv Sena is part of Maharashtra’s ruling alliance which also includes NCP and Congress.
TMC had earlier proposed a larger alliance of the Opposition parties, including the Congress, to take on the ruling BJP in the coastal state. Expressing the Mamata Banerjee-led party’s willingness to join hands with the Congress and other Opposition parties to fight the BJP in the Goa polls, TMC MP and its Goa in-charge Mahua Moitra, in a Twitter post, had said, “Rest assured, we the AITC will do everything possible to defeat BJP in Goa…@Mamataofficial has done it in past & will not shy away from walking extra mile in Goa too.”
Besides the Congress, Moitra tagged the Goa Forward Party (GFP) and the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) in this tweet. While the Congress has formed an alliance with the GFP, the TMC, a new player in the Goa fray, has tied up with the MGP for the upcoming polls.
Meanwhile, ahead of the Assembly elections next month, Uttar Pradesh Minister Swami Prasad Maurya on Tuesday resigned from the BJP and joined Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party. In his resignation letter, Maurya listed “negligent attitude towards Dalits, backward, farmers, unemployed youth, small and medium businessmen” as reasons behind his decision to step down. He represented the Padrauna constituency of Uttar Pradesh and joined BJP in 2016, after quitting the Bahujan Samaj Party.
Former BJP leader Michael Lobo on Tuesday joined Congress, a day after resigning from the Goa cabinet and quitting the saffron party.
Lobo, along with his wife Delilah who is seeking ticket from Siolim constituency in the next month's Assembly elections, joined Congress in the presence of the party's Goa in-charge Dinesh Gundu Rao and Leader of Opposition Digambar Kamat.
Lobo, former MLA from Calangute, was Minister for Port in the Pramod Sawant-led Goa government.
Rao said on this occasion that the Congress had a track record of doing things that benefit the coastal state. "We have a great history. Today, the Congress is the only alternative if you want a good and stable government," he said.
With Lobo's induction in the party, Congress will win more than 25 out of 40 seats, Rao claimed.
In a veiled swipe at the Trinamool Congress and Aam Aadmi Party, he said, “People in Goa want to remove the BJP, but some other political parties have come to Goa to create disturbance and help the BJP.” (PTI)
Stating that the first phase of polling in the state falls on a Sunday, the All Tribal Students’ Union Manipur (ATSUM) and the Kuki Inpi Manipur (KIM) have urged the Election Commission of India (ECI) to reschedule the election date.
The first phase of polling in Manipur is scheduled to be held on February 27, which is a Sunday.
Members of tribal communities, who constitute about 43% of the state’s population, are predominantly Christians. ATSUM has said that Sundays are considered to sacred by the Christian community and it is a day of rest and worship for them. Read more
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar on Tuesday said his party would contest the ensuing Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh as part of the Samajwadi Party-led alliance. He also said 13 members of the Legislative Assembly in Uttar Pradesh will be joining the Samajwadi Party.
Talking to reporters, Pawar said people of Uttar Pradesh are looking for parivartan (change) in the northern state, adding it will happen. NCP will also contest the ensuing Assembly elections Goa and Manipur, he said. In Manipur, NCP will have an understanding with the Congress, while in Goa, it is in talks with the Congress and the Trinamool Congress, he added. (PTI)
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday said the state's people consider his party as an alternative to the BJP and in this assembly polls, they will wipe out the saffron party.
He also alleged that the BJP has betrayed farmers and youths, while prices of diesel, petrol and fertilisers have increased manifold during its regime.
"The people of the state consider Samajwadi Party (SP) as an alternative to the BJP and this time, they will wipe it out in the assembly polls and form the SP's government," Yadav said while addressing party workers at the SP's headquarters here.
According to a party statement, he also promised that if voted to power, the SP will provide 300 units free electricity, free laptops to the youth and make arrangements for free irrigation for farmers.
"The party is moving forward taking all sections along and has formed alliances with regional parties. This time old issues will not work. The SP is training its workers for the past few years on how to take forward work done by the SP government and the party's future plans in the interest of people," the former chief minister said. (PTI)
The Election Commission of India (ECI) has appointed a 1993-batch IPS officer, Ishwar Singh, as State Police Nodal Officer (SPNO) for Punjab Assembly polls. He replaces IPS officer Shashi Prabha Dwivedi.
The Congress on Tuesday formed a manifesto committee headed by party MP Partap Singh Bajwa and a Sunil Jakhar-led campaign panel for the February 14 Punjab assembly polls.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi set up a 20-member manifesto committee with Bajwa as the chairman, Manpreet Badal as co-chairman and party MP Amar Singh as convenor.
Punjab Deputy Chief Minister OP Soni, Rana Gurjeet, Jaiveer Shergill, JS Dhaliwal, Anil Vij, KK Agarwal, Manju Bansal, Vijay Kalra and Surjit Swaich are among those included in the manifesto panel.
Gandhi also set up a 25-member campaign committee headed by Jakhar, which has Amarpreet Singh Lally as co-chairman and party MP Ravneet Bittu as the convenor.
The campaign committee includes the likes of Vijay Inder Singla, Bharat Bhushan Ashu, Amarinder Raja Warring, Pargat Singh, Hardip Kingra, Emmaneul Masih and Charan Singh. (PTI)
Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath attended a key BJP meeting here on Tuesday as party leaders discussed the ongoing campaign for the state assembly polls ahead of the announcement of its candidates for the initial phases in a few days.
Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya and Uttar Pradesh BJP chief Swatantra Dev Singh also attended the meeting besides several other leaders, with its national president J P Nadda, who has contracted the coronavirus, attending it virtually.
With the filing of nomination for the first phase of the seven-phase Uttar Pradesh polls set to begin from January 14, the party's CEC may meet soon to finalise the names of candidates, sources said.
The Uttar Pradesh BJP core group has been working to shortlist probable candidates for the assembly elections, especially for the seats which will go to the polls in the initial phases, they said, but there was no official statement on the confabulations in the meeting held at the party headquarters here. (PTI)
With an UP Cabinet minister quitting the state government and three BJP MLAs following him, the Samajwadi Party on Tuesday said it has sent some locks to the state BJP chief to help him down his party headquarters' shutter after the poll results are out.
SP national spokesperson I P Singh, who had quit the BJP in 2019, said he has sent the locks to UP BJP chief Swatantra Dev Singh and two other party leaders, including Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, so that they can go home after locking their offices in the BJP headquarters after the March 10 result. "I have sent a lock to the (UP) BJP headquarters as a gift to Swatantra Dev Singh. Return home after March 10. Now, there is no wave but a storm of the SP blowing (in the state)," the SP leader said in a tweet in Hindi.
In another tweet, he said, "There are three locks with this lock which can be used by Swatantra Dev Singh, BJP general secretary (organisation) Sunil Bansal, and Yogi (Adityanath) ji to be used by them according to their convenience," I P Singh said in another tweet.
In a jolt to the BJP in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday, OBC leader Swami Prasad Maurya, who held the portfolio of Labour, Employment and Coordination ministry in the UP government, resigned from the state Cabinet with two other MLAs to following him.
BJP Tindwari MLA Brajesh Prajapati, Tilhar MLA Roshan Lal Varma and Bilhaur legislator Bhagwati Sagar too have announced that they are leaving the party in support of Maurya. (PTI)
Authorities in Uttar Pradesh have seized over 33,000 litres of liquor worth over Rs 82 lakh after the imposition of the model code of conduct for the upcoming assembly polls, Chief Electoral Officer Ajay Kumar Shukla said on Tuesday.
The model code is a set of guidelines, issued by the Election Commission, for political parties, candidates, government and the party in power during elections concerning speeches, announcements, election manifestos and general conduct.
Giving details of seizure, Shukla said 33,276 litres of liquor worth Rs 82.83 lakh has been seized after imposition of the poll code. Also, over 10 lakh political campaign items were removed, he said, adding of these, 7,96,626 items were removed from government properties and 2,59,892 items from private land. (PTI)
The is likely to help the Opposition’s campaign that the Yogi Adityanath government is a pro-upper caste regime. While Maurya had been sitting on the fence for long, his move sets back the BJP in its efforts to woo OBCs, just ahead of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls.
On the contrary, SP, which is emerging as the BJP’s main rival, is hoping Maurya joining the party will be a big boost to its bid to add non-Yadav OBCs to its solid Muslim-Yadav vote bank. Non-Yadav OBCs are estimated to constitute over 35% of the electorate. Read more
The Trinamool Congress on Tuesday launched its 'Mhaje Ghar, Maalki Hakk' campaign in poll-bound Goa, aimed at giving housing rights to people living in the coastal state before 1976.
TMC MP Mohua Moitra and other leaders of the Mamata Banerjee-led party launched the scheme, whose title means 'my home, my right', here.
It is a landmark housing rights scheme, TMC leader Kiran Kandolkar said, adding that providing such rights was the Constitutional duty of any government and is interpreted as a fundamental right under Article 21.
"Within 250 days of coming to power, the TMC will ensure all Goan families residing in the state before 1976 are given title and ownership rights of the land under their possession. We also plan to give 50,000 subsidised homes to the homeless," Kandolkar said. (PTI)
BJP MLA Brijesh Kumar Prajapati resigns from primary membership of the party. "Swami Prasad Maurya is the voice of the backward classes. He is our leader and I am with him," Prajapati states in his letter.
NCP chief Sharad Pawar said on Tuesday that the party is in talks with Congress and Trinamool Congress on forging an alliance for the Goa Assembly polls. His remark comes after Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Sunday said the BJP wants to ride on the shoulders of the TMC to come to power in Goa. Shiv Sena is part of Mahrashtra’s ruling alliance which also includes NCP and Congress.
Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Tuesday hit out at Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath over his remarks that the assembly polls in the state will be about '80 per cent vs 20 per cent', and urged the youth to make the elections about issues such as employment and education.
The Congress general secretary said remarks such as "80-20" were aimed at diverting attention from real issues of the youth.
At an event on Saturday, Adityanath had said it will be a "80 per cent versus 20 per cent" election in Uttar Pradesh and the BJP will retain power in the state.
Several Opposition leaders have attacked the chief minister over his comments, alleging that it was an attempt at polarisation by the "80-20" reference which they said was aimed at pointing to the ratio of Hindus to Muslims in Uttar Pradesh.
Making remarks like '80-20' is a way to fraudulently divert attention from the issues of the youth, Priyanka Gandhi said. The reality is that under the BJP government, out of every 100 people, 68 have no work, she said.
"My young friends, with your power, make the UP polls, an election of issues such as employment and education," Priyanka Gandhi said in a tweet in Hindi. (PTI)
“The people of Punjab will decide who becomes the next CM. Who told you that the (Congress) high command will decide?” says Punjab Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu.
Uttar Pradesh Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya says, “I do not know the reasons which made Swami Prasad Maurya tender his resignation. But I appeal to him to engage in talks. Hasty decisions often prove to be wrong.”
“I have resigned from the Yogi Cabinet keeping in mind the government’s attitude against Dalits, backward classes, farmers, youths and traders…Dozens of MLAs will resign in the coming days,” says Swami Prasad Maurya. Read more
Bahujan Samaj Party president Mayawati will not contest the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls, party general secretary S C Misra said in Lucknow on Tuesday. Misra said he will also not contest the state elections, which will be held in seven phases starting February 10.
Since elections are being held in several states, including Punjab and Uttarakhand, along with Uttar Pradesh, the BSP president will not contest the polls and help party candidates win, Misra said. Currently, Mayawati is neither a legislator nor an MP.
Misra is a Rajya Sabha member. The BSP will contest all 403 seats in Uttar Pradesh alone. (PTI)
With the Election Commission putting a moratorium on holding public rallies and gatherings in view of spurt in coronavirus cases, the BJP on Tuesday launched its door-to-door campaign to reach out to voters across the Uttar Pradesh.
Starting the campaign in the state capital Lucknow, UP BJP chief Swatantra Dev Singh knocked doors of houses in Ballu Adda area and pasted stickers outside the homes and also applied 'tilak' on the forehead of some house owners. One of the BJP's sticker reads 'Poore hui aas, ghar ghar huaa vikaas' (aspirations have been fulfilled, development has reached to houses).
While announcing a complete no to holding of physical rallies and other forms of public gatherings like Nukkad Sabha till January 15 in the five states going to polls, the EC on Saturday had permitted door-to-door campaigns with not more than five persons at a time.
"As per the guidelines of the Election Commission, the BJP is reaching to the beneficiaries of various schemes of the Centre and state governments. We are giving our report card to the public, and taking suggestions from them as well. This is the first government, which is going door-to-door," Singh told reporters. He added that the party has sought the blessings of the public through the Jan Vishvas Yatra.
UP BJP spokesman Rakesh Tripathi said that several party MPs and ministers participated in the programme in all 403 assembly seats different parts of the state. (PTI)
Ahead of the Assembly elections next month, Uttar Pradesh Minister Swami Prasad Maurya on Tuesday resigned from the BJP and joined Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party.
Welcoming Maurya to the party, Yadav tweeted, "Warm welcome and greetings to the popular leader Shri Swami Prasad Maurya Ji, who fought for social justice and equality and all the other leaders, workers and supporters who came with him in SP. There will be revolution of social justice."