The BJP has asked UP chief minister Mayawati and Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav to explain their stand regarding the UPA government in view of the recent hike in prices of petroleum products.

Saat pheras (seven rounds of the holy fire) at Hindu weddings are passé. It is now time for eight pheras. Gayatri Parivar priests will now make couples take yet another vow at the time of marriage, the eighth being not to indulge in gender discrimination and female feticide.

If you live in Kanpur and think that you can roll out of bed and proceed on your morning walk, you are mistaken. The authorities at the famous Green Park stadium have now implemented a dress code for all morning walkers.

The ice has started breaking and there has been a thaw in UP chief minister Mayawati’s relations with governor B.L. Joshi. The chief minister on Thursday evening attended a musical programme in Raj Bhavan — something that she is not known to do very often.

BJP MP Varun Gandhi’s growing popularity in UP has finally forced Mr Vinay Katiyar, the original Hindu firebrand leader in the BJP, to come out of hibernation. Mr Katiyar, after a long hiatus, will be addressing a rally in Ambedkar Nagar on June 25. Mr Katiyar had unsuccessfully tried to contest the last Lok Sabha elections from Ambedkar Nagar and had lost the seat to the BSP.

UP chief minister Mayawati’s decision not to hold local bodies’ elections on party lines has started stoking fires in the Opposition camp. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has decided to observe June 26 as Loktantra Bachao Diwas while the Congress will observe a “black day” to register its protest against the decision. Congress men will also burn the copies of the government order in this regard and wear a black band on their arms.

In a seemingly bizarre incident, two children, aged 5 and 7, hacked a hardened criminal to death in Pilibhit district and then marched to the nearby police station to confess their crime. This incident took place on Sunday evening in Piparaiya village. The boys were playing in the orchard where their father works as a guard.

After making its presence felt in urban areas, the Bahujan Samaj Party is returning to the rural interiors to consolidate its vote base amongst its traditional voters.
According to party sources, the BSP leadership is concerned about the erosion in its dalit vote base and wants to assuage their feelings before the next Assembly elections in the state.

Beyond the boundaries of Uttar Pradesh, the elephant fails to register its presence and its men refuse to toe the line.
Cross-voting by four out of the five Bihar BSP MLAs in the Rajya Sabha biennial elections on Thursday, once again, proves that the diktat of BSP president Mayawati works only within the boundaries of her own state.

They were political stalwarts who charted the destiny of Uttar Pradesh and their sheer presence and absence changed the complexion of politics in the state. Today, they have been relegated into the wings and are becoming increasingly irrelevant in the present scenario. Former chief minister and ex-BJP leader Kalyan Singh, who leads this brigade, was once one of the tallest political leaders in UP. His word was command in his party and the public believed in what he said.