Revamp in mind, UP BJP cracks whip

The battered UP unit of BJP has launched an ‘‘Operation Overhaul’’ to rebuild its disjointed cadre. State unit chief Kal...

The battered UP unit of BJP has launched an ‘‘Operation Overhaul’’ to rebuild its disjointed cadre. State unit chief Kalraj Mishra has disbanded 18 district units today after a three-member committee found they hadn’t working actively during the Assembly elections.

While more such decisions are likely soon, the state party unit has already sent its report to Delhi for disciplinary action against nearly six party MPs and other senior functionaries who did not support official party nominees in the polls.

Mayawati does ‘damage control’

LUCKNOW: In an apparent bid to placate Muslims for joining hands with the BJP, UP CM Mayawati has retained the Minority Welfare and Muslim Waqf portfolios. Sources say she is also mulling over announcing some schemes for them and thwart the Samajwadi Party’s alleged attempt to engineer a drift of Muslim voters from the BSP. Mayawati has rewarded her staunch supporters in the BJP, Lalji Tandon and Om Prakash Singh, by allocating 18 and 10 departments respectively.

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That any BSP leader cannot remain her favourite for long was evident from portfolio distribution. She allocated important departments like Energy and Medical Education to new member Ramvir Upadhya. Veterans Swami Prasad Maurya and Lalji Verma have been given unimportant Khadi and Rural Industries and Public Enterprises. She posted senior official Shashank Shekhar Singh as Industrial Development Commissioner-cum-Principal Secretary (Industry). (ENS)

‘‘The party has had the worst performance at the hustings since 1991, forcing us to take harsh decisions which had been a rarity in the BJP so far.

“We will have to discipline party workers and also send across a strong message that no laxity will be tolerated anymore,’’ said a senior functionary on condition of anonymity.

While the BJP is busy revamping, ally BSP is pushing ahead with its Dalit agenda which had been Mayawati’s USP for elections. The Chief Minister today drove down to her dream project, the Ambedkar Park, and took officials to task for the ‘‘unsatisfactory’’ progress since she left on October 21, 1997.

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‘‘Call the contractors back and stop issuing of fresh cheques of pending payments. They should be asked to redo the park at places where they have used substandard material,’’ she said.

The park which had been projected by Mayawati as a symbol of pride for the Dalits, has become a rallying point among different Chief Ministers in the state. In its report, the CAG found largescale bungling at various levels while a single member Investigative committee headed by George Joseph had come up with similar findings.

The park which was initially estimated to be completed with a sum of Rs 18 crore, is still lying incomplete after around Rs 110 crore have been spent on it so far.

‘Grave insult to wounded people’: Cong lashes out at PM Modi amid his first Manipur visit

India5 hr ago

As Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits Manipur for the first time since ethnic violence hit the state in May 2023, the Congress on Saturday called it a “farce, tokenism, and a grave insult to a wounded people”.

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