Though Samajwadi chief Mulayam Singh Yadav has denied talks on forming a “third front” now, the party feels such a bloc is very much possible after the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

Muslims clearly appear to have emerged as the kingmaker in UP. While the SP bagged majority on its own for the first time, the party appeared to have bagged the support of the Muslims in a big way.

The BSP appears open to a tieup with the Congress if there is a hung Assembly.

With reports indicating that the RLD has failed to consolidate Jat vote-bank in favour of the alliance with the Congress in the sixth phase, for which polling was held on Tuesday, the party leadership is apparently worried about the poll outcome. The RLD and BSP camps indicated that the Jat vote-base has split in big ways in western Uttar Pradesh.

Even though Uttar Pradesh verdict will be known on March 6 only, Samajwadi Party camp has moved into celebration mode. While UP unit chief Akhilesh Yadav is being credited for having brought life to the party, SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav is being stated within the party to be the only chief ministerial candidate.

The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act has emerged as one of the schemes through which “habitual criminals” and “history-sheeters” are rehabilitating themselves. D.K. Jain, joint secretary, ministry of rural development, said that since “habitual criminals and history-sheeters do not get jobs elsewhere, they find MGNREGA is an effective tool to return to the mainstream”.

Though written off as a non-serious entrant into the poll arena of Uttar Pradesh, Trinamul Congress is confident of opening its account in the Hindi heartland. After giving much headache to the Congress on a number of issues, the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamul Congress is confident of stunning the UPA ally RLD in the Mat Assembly seat where civil aviation minister Ajit Singh’s son Jayant Choudhary is in the fray.

In a move to curb the menace of illegal mining activities, the Centre is taking legal advice to stop state governments leasing out land in tribal areas to corporates by flouting the existing laws. The move has come in the backdrop of reports of a number of state governments leasing out land to corporates for mining and other activities in the tribal areas.

Stepping up pressure on the government, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Wednesday evening seeking to put on hold setting up of the controversial National C

Stepping up pressure on the government, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee told Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday evening to put the controversial setting up of the National Counter Terrorism Centre on hold till a “consensus is evolved”.