Lalmani Verma

Ex-UP DGP Brij Lal was considered close to BSP chief Mayawati and served on prime postings, including the top post in police, during the BSP rule. He joined the BJP in 2015 post-retirement.

Claiming that the time for the construction of Ram temple was drawing closer, VHP’s new working president Alok Kumar said, “Either the court will decide... Otherwise, if felt needed, will get a law made for this purpose.”

While the UP government has been facing allegations from within the BJP for promoting Thakurs, the party named three Thakurs for the MLC elections. The BJP list also includes one Dalit, Vidya Sagar Sonkar, who is presently party state general secretary.

In their joint statement, Pravin Togadia and Raghav Reddy also alleged that the election had been forced upon the VHP, said the voter list was fraudulent, and claimed government interference.

At the residence of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Shah held meetings with leaders of the two allies — Apna Dal and Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) — separately and assured them that their issues would be redressed.

During his Lucknow tour for organisational meetings on Wednesday, BJP president Amit Shah visited Samata Mulak Chowk with Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and paid tribute at the statue of Dalit icon Jyotiba Phule on his birth anniversary.

Accused of rape, Kuldeep Singh Sengar, 51, started his political career in 2002 when he was elected as an MLA from Unnao Sadar on a Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) ticket.

They agreed to bury their differences and to re-unite the family ahead of 2019 Lok Sabha elections in which the SP plans to contest as part of a “broader alliance” at the national level.

BJP’s western UP region president Ashwani Tyagi also termed the meeting routine, but added that Samrasta Diwas will be celebrated at the mandal unit level.

While agreeing that change could not be ushered suddenly, as it would require language training and new software, Bhagwat said one could simply start by switching to their mother tongue while signing.

All SP district and city presidents are being instructed to hold programmes either at their party offices or at public venues. Party leaders will address workers on Ambedkar’s achievements, his role in drafting the Constitution. Floral tributes too will be offered.

While issuing Tuesday’s order, the government cited Eighth Schedule of Constitution, where Ambedkar’s name is written as ‘Dr Bhimrao Ramji Aambedkar’ in Hindi.

Kairana: Hopes to counter SP-BSP maths with high turnout, recent encounters, move on cases in riot zone. For the Opposition, the thrust is on carrying forward the SP-BSP partnership that brought the SP victory in Gorakhpur and Phulpur.

Chirag Paswan said he had also written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and asked the government to file a review petition against the order. “We have sought time to meet him and discuss the issue,” he said.

After the elections, the BJP alleged that an SBSP MLA had cross-voted, and Rajbhar announced a “review” of whether or not to continue the alliance with the BJP. The party will hold a meeting on this Tuesday.

The recognition of the need to continue the alliance despite the Rajya Sabha setback, BSP sources said, is the result of calculations manner keeping in mind the “social engineering formula” of party founder Kanshiram.

While eight of the BJP's candidates have been election to the Upper House, Adityanath is trying to drum up support to ensure the party's ninth candidate Anil Agarwal is elected as well. Akhilesh, meanwhile, has assured support of SP's extra votes to BSP nominee Bhimrao Ambedkar.

While the Supreme Court order was criticised by Dalit rights groups and even Dalit MPs from BJP as weakening the legislation, the Congress hit out at the government for the inept handling of the case by the Additional Solicitor General.

While BSP chief Mayawati has not made any remarks on the SC ruling, SP president Akhilesh Yadav issued a statement.