Ahead of the Uttar Pradesh assembly election, the Samajwadi Party (SP) on Tuesday speeded up its campaign for the 2022 assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh with a “Vijay Yatra” from Kanpur. Thisyatra will be rigorously continued till the elections all across the state. Akhilesh Yadav will travel in a Mercedes bus, which has been turned into a ‘rath’ carved with posters of Akhilesh Yadav displayed on one side and that of party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav on the other, besides a picture of party leader Mohammad Azam Khan. The former chief minister Akhilesh has been lashing out at UP CM Yogi Adityanath, saying that “after next year’s state elections, both the Baba Chief Minister and his bull and bulldozer would be driven and swept away”. Meanwhile, the Congress is trying to keep the Lakhimpur Kheri violence and killings politically alive, a high-level delegation of Congress leaders on Wednesday met President Ram Nath Kovind and urged him to dismiss Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Ajay Mishra Teni, whose son Ashish Mishra has been since arrested. The Congress delegation also demanded that the President directs setting up of an independent judicial investigation by a commission comprising two sitting judges of the Supreme Court of India, or a high court. Senior Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi, Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, A K Antony, Ghulam Nabi Azad and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra told President Kovind that the unforgivable and merciless murder of farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri has scarred the soul of India. Moreover, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who is the face of the Congress party in Uttar Pradesh, her detention by the UP Police, her subsequent meeting with the families of the farmers killed in Lakhimpur Kheri, followed by her rally in Varanasi, has generated a great deal of buzz in the media. With her the party’s grassroots outreach has increased prominently, on ground the party is much stronger now than it has been in past several years. While the BSP chief Mayawati had promised at her first election rally in Lucknow on Saturday that she won’t stop the development works launched in Ayodhya, Varanasi and Mathura after coming to power.
DELHI BJP CRITICIZES CM KEJRIWAL ON CHHATH PUJA BAN
The Purvanchalis (Bhojpuri-speaking natives of eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar) living in Delhi are considered a prominent vote bank in the national capital, and Chhath is one of their most important festivals. To attract this section of people, former BJP state president and BJP MP Manoj Tiwari started a Chhath Rath Yatra in Delhi’s Purvanchali-dominated areas against the Chhath ban in the state. Tiwari had earlier written to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and alleged that he heldthe CM responsible for hurting the sentiments of Hindus. Meanwhile, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, the following day, urged Lt Governor Anil Baijal to allow Chhath puja celebrations in Delhi as the Covid situation in the city was under control, prompting the latter to call a DDMA meeting to discuss the ban on the celebration of the festival at public places. These developments come amid a sharp attack on the Kejriwal government and protests by the Delhi BJP over the Chhath ban. In an order issued on September 30, the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) had prohibited Chhath celebrations at public places, including at riverbanks, water bodies and temples, in view of the threat posed by Covid-19. According to sources, the LG Secretariat said that the chief secretary has been asked to organize a meeting of the DDMA to take a decision on the issue.
SHIVPAL YADAV LAUNCHES YATRA, TIE-UP WITH SP LOOKS REMOTE
Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (PSP) president Shivpal Yadav has launched his Samajik Parivartan Rath Yatra from Vrindavan and will conclude it at the birthplace of Lord Rama in Ayodhya after travelling through 75 districts in the state of UP. Although Shivpal had recently said that he would wait until October 11 for SP Chief Akhilesh Yadav’s response on tie-up, but he did not rule out the possibility of a tie-up with other secular parties. He commenced his Yatra on October 12, and thus this could be a reflection of the possibility that he is not going to tie up with Samajwadi Party for the forthcoming assembly election in 2022. Shivpal Yadav broke away from the SP in 2018 and formed his own political group – Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party – following a fallout with his nephew and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav.
FORMER KERALA LOP RAMESH CHENNITHALA GETS MEDIA SAVVY
After replacing Kerala Congress’s Ramesh Chennithala as the leader of the opposition following the poll debacle, the Congress high-command has hurriedly appointed K Sudhakaran as the new state party president. However, the decision was not received well either by Ramesh Chennithala, or the Congress old guard. The first thing Chennithala did was to resign from various party organisations of which he had earlier assumed charge. Since then he has been communicating more with party workers and the media.
KUMARASWAMY, SIDDARAMAIAH AND YEDIYURAPPA EXCHANGE BARBS
Leader of the Opposition and former Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah and senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader BS Yediyurappa have dismissed JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy’s claim that both the leaders had secret meeting. HD Kumaraswamy had on October 12 alleged that two others who occupied the top post were holding meetings, as a result of which the Income Tax (I-T) raids were unleashed in an effort to control Yediyurappa. “I had gone to meet Yediyurappa on his birthday. I had not met him personally as chief minister or as the Leader of Opposition. I have not met him (personally) till today. We both were in the same hospital when we were infected by Corona, even then we had not met,” Siddaramaiah said. The Congress leader said that it was actually Kumaraswamy who held multiple meetings with Yediyurappa when the latter was the chief minister. Quoting the claims as blatant lies, Siddaramaiah said that he would retire from politics if Kumaraswamy can prove that he had met Yediyurappa. While Yediyurappa in tweets clarified that he continues to work for the party and any rumour otherwise are just that. “I met Siddaramaiah only during my birthday event on February 27, 2020, and never met him personally after that nor do I need to. I continue to work to bring back BJP to power and will not rest until I reach my goal. I have not left behind my ideologies nor will I do so in future. Siddaramaiah has also clarified that he has not met me. Any report stating otherwise is far from the truth and meaningless,” tweeted Yediyurappa. The claims and denial come at the same stroke when the three major political parties in Karnataka are gearing up for the October 30 by-polls in Hanagal and Sindgi that has evolved into a huge electoral battle for all the outfits in the state. (IPA)
Centre Must Not Impose Its Policy On NEET On Unwilling States 