Worried Mulayam and Maya with their vote banks shattered

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Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati and her bete noire Samajwadi Party President Mulayam Singh Yadav are jittery after the outcome of the 80 seats of U.P.. Though Mulayam has lost ground, Mayawati has gained one seat, they can forsee more trouble ahead for their parties. Rounds of self introspection have begun as both have now realised that they have lost heavily on what they thought was their traditional vote bank. There has been a silent but drastic shift in these votes. Mulayam Singh Yadav who is also referred to as 'Mulla Mulayam' for being a champion of cause for Muslims, had given tickets to eleven Muslim candidates this time. Rashid Masood from Saharanpur, Iqbal Mahmood from Sambhal, Mahboob Ali from Amroha, Zafar Alam from Aligarh, Riyaz Ahmed from Pilibhit, Nafisa Ali from Lucknow, Ruaab Shahida from Shravasti, Arshad Jamaal from Ghosi, Sadaan Masood from Kairana, Haji Rizwan from Muradabad....

SP big gun, Azam Khan, on his way out?

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Mohammad Azam Khan, a long trusted friend of Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yaday, is just about to part ways with him. He is currently in serious dialogue with the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Congress. He has apparently realised that there is no space for him in Samajwadi Party and so he is bargaining with BSP and Congress for a better deal. It could be a matter of days before a formal announcement is made to this effect. His supporters are ready to move to switch camps even before Azam Khan himself leaves the party. Khan, SP general secretary, is annoyed with the top leadership of the party and has his own reasons for it. He is at loggerheads with another general secretary of the party, Amar Singh. Both were never known to be good friends and this time it is actress-turned-politician Jaya Prada who is the....

English, No No; Computers, Never Never: What Samajwad Is This?

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Enter the state headquarters of Samajwadi Party, situated at 19 Vikramaditya Marg in Lucknow and turn left. There is a small room, which has a computer, a scanner, photoshop software and a card reader. A party functionary, who uses this equipment to send press releases and photographs of leaders to various media houses, runs this office. And now Mulayam Singh Yadav and his Samajwadi Party want to take India back to the 19th century. With the party manifesto saying that they are opposed to English and computers, it seems that the old warhorse is either confused or is surrounded by confused board of advisors who do not realize that computer age came to this country years ago. Later, in an attempt to control the damage done by these statements amongst voters, mainly from Uttar Pradesh, the party chief and his most trusted general secretary Amar Singh....

A dull fight ahead in Lucknow

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The prestigious Lucknow Lok Sabha seat, known for its colourful elections and high-profile candidates, will see a lack-lustre election this time around. With five-time MP and former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee not contesting elections this time because of poor health, Samajwadi Party thought it had Sanjay Dutt would be its trump card in Lucknow. But Supreme Court disallowed Sanjay from contesting elections. There after many glamorous names came up in the rumour mill--from Jaya Bachchan to Jaya Prada--but finally SP convinced activist Nafisa Ali to contest from Lucknow. She is now pitted against old BJP hand Lalji Tandon and Dr Akhilesh Das of the Bahujan Samaj Party. The Congress has fielded Rita Bahugana Joshi, the president of Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee from this seat. When Atal Bihari Vajpayee entered the fray from Lucknow for the first time in 1991, he won with 50.9 percent of the total votes....

All not well in Mayadom

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Come General Elections and all parties -- national and regional - and hordes of Independents and spoilers will be battling it out in a hot battleground, both electorally and climatically. New promises, old criticism, some fresh and some stale slogans, colourful posters and banners, roadshows, film stars - all elements will be in place to woo the voters. But the Battle of Waterloo will be fought from the same battleground which has given the maximum number of Prime Ministers to the country. Even if a king has not been anointed from the state every time, it has certainly thrown up a kingmaker every time and this election shall not be very different. It is clear that whichever party/alliance gets a sizeable share from the 80 seats in Uttar Pradesh will have a clear advantage to stake claim for forming government at the Centre. The battlelines are clearly drawn and....

Pak's terror case against Kasab - a mere eyewash!

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Finally, after two and a half months after the Mumbai terror attacks, Pakistan registered a case against against the lone terrorist captured alive by India, Ajmal Amir Kasaab and others. Nine others were named in the FIR of which six arrested. Indeed a huge reason for India to cheer its win in the tireless diplomatic exercise in this direction. All the more reason for cheer was Pakistan accepting that its soil was used by its 'non-state' actors for the attack. There was jubilation all around the country with national dailies painted with the victory story and the screaming headlines of television channels that indeed - 'we had won'. Even experts in the area of diplomacy and relations with Pakistan hailed it as a big achievement and most of them said that this was not the time to be suspicious of Pakistan or that we should not always look at....

All and anything in the name of terror and Pakistan

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The aftermath of 26/11 terror attacks on the commercial capital of India saw a major change in the thinking and mindset of the common Indian, rich or poor, educated or illiterate or to broadly classify, in all strata of the Indian society. It gave us a sense of being Indian, fighting back against terror, getting back our values of togetherness, unity and belonging. The spirit and flame of patriotism is back in every Indian, be it children, youth or old. It is really amazing that after quite some time we have realised the feeling of being INDIAN, which was once confined to two calender days in a year - January 26 which is our Republic Day and August 15, our Independence Day. This is the time one silent evil slowly crept into our system. Our police seems to have got a licence to kill as a result of the....