PM to campaign in Lakhimpur Kheri, Bahraich

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will campaign for the Congress party in Lakhimpur Kheri and Bahraich on April 20.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will campaign for the Congress party in Lakhimpur Kheri and Bahraich on April 20. This will be his second campaign tour in the state. Singh had praised Rahul Gandhi’s efforts in the UP campaign last week. Describing Rahul as the state’s future, the PM had said UP was lagging behind on all fronts because its politicians had failed it. “Let’s make a new Uttar Pradesh, just like (late Prime Minister) Rajiv Gandhi dreamt of making a new India 20 years ago,” he had said.

BJP rising due to Mulayam: SP rebel

LUCKNOW: Samajwadi Party rebel, state Minorities Affairs Minister and now the president of Uttar Pradesh United Democratic Front Haji Yaqub Qureshi has touched off yet another controversy blaming Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav of extending help to the BJP to come back to power by polarising voters on communal lines. Qureshi, who still continues to be a minister in the Mulayam Cabinet, asserted, “Uttaranchal and Gujarat poll results have confirmed that Mulayam had a tacit understanding with the BJP.”

Vajpayee campaign on April 24, 25

ALLAHABAD: BJP national vice president Venkaiah Naidu said former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who has been out of the party’s poll campaign in UP due to ill health, will canvass in the state on April 24 and 25. Speaking at a party meeting on Tuesday, he dubbed the UPA alliance as Ulta Pulta Alliance (UPA), saying the right hand proposed, the left opposed and the frustrated mind disposed.

Arjun Singh defends Rahul

Story continues below this ad

RANCHI: HRD Minister Arjun Singh on Wednesday strongly defended Rahul Gandhi’s controversial remark on the Gandhi family’s role in the freedom struggle and division of Pakistan, saying the young Congress leader had only stated the facts. “Nobody wants to see the facts. Has he said any anti-national thing?,” Singh said here.

Pawar defends sugar industry sops

NEW DELHI: Unfazed by EC’s criticism, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on Wednesday defended his ministry’s announcement of a sugar industry package ahead of the UP polls, saying any delay in administrative decisions would affect the common man. “I respect the EC. But here every month there is an election. Last month there was election in Punjab and Uttaranchal. Now it is in UP, immediately after that there is an election in Goa.

Amarmani to contest on SP ticket

DEHRADUN: Prime accused in poetess Madhumita Shukla murder case and former Uttar Pradesh minister Amarmani Tripathi will file his nomination for assembly polls from Maharajanj on an SP ticket. Tripathi was on Wednesday taken to Maharajganj following the SC’s permission that he can file nomination papers for the polls. Tripathi will be back by April 22. The election in Maharajgang will be held on May 13.