Akhilesh Yadav's partyman, who fired at Govt officer in Jhansi, arrested

Lucknow:  Despite several warnings, Samajwadi Party workers continue to defy orders of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav by indulging in acts of hooliganism and violent behaviour. A Block Development Officer (BDO) in Uttar Pradesh's Jhansi district, SK Shrivastava, was shot at by a local Samajwadi Party worker on Sunday evening. Mr Shrivastava sustained injuries in his leg and is being treated at the district hospital. His condition is said to be stable.

The police today arrested the Samajwadi Party leader, Bharat Singh Yadav.

Mr Shrivastava says the attack on him was premeditated as Mr Yadav wanted revenge. Mr Shrivastava had got a case registered against Mr Yadav for trying to rig the election of the party's candidate to the legislative council in 2010. Mr Yadav's wife, Kalyani Devi, is the local block head and also belongs to the Samajwadi Party.

For years, Samajwadi Party has been accused as a party which sheltered and promoted hooligans. Akhilesh Yadav had promised voters during his campaign that he would cleanse his party of the "goondas" or hooligans. He had also said that his top priority would be to deliver law and order to a state besieged by crime, but with numerous acts of violence by Samajwadi Party workers being reported, how well Akhilesh will deliver on this front remains to be seen.

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Salman Rushdie on Akhilesh, Omar boycotting him at Delhi event

New Delhi:  At the India Today Conclave, Salman Rushdie was asked about his opinion on politicians who boycotted the event because of him. The list allegedly includes Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and his counterpart in Jammu and Kashmir, Omar Abdullah.

"Sad that leaders supposed to be the next generation are behaving in old-fashioned way. I hope they will grow up," Mr Rushdie said at the event. He also said, "I am impressed with my effect. Really, they're that scared of me?"

On Twitter, Mr Abdullah responded, "Miss the conclave I'm afraid of an author. Come to Delhi & a communal clash breaks out in Jammu I'm incompetent. Honestly I'm glad I missed...I had a situation with the BJP VHP Bajrang Dal & others itching to inflame passions so I have no regrets about the decision to stay in Jammu...Plus Salman Rushdie doesn't even know I exist so do you really think he gives a toss whether I was there or not?? Get real :-)"

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Akhilesh Yadav sworn in as Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister; SP workers on bad behaviour

Lucknow:  New Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav will be hoping hard this is not a portent. Barely had the 38-year-old been sworn in as  the state's youngest Chief Minister, that his biggest challenge was demonstrated by his party workers who shoved their way onto the stage and were seen climbing on sofas.

So shortly after being sworn in, the young SP leader assured the people of his state that his government "will not tolerate lawlessness and will tackle it with an iron hand." "Samajwadi Party will fulfill promises made in the manifesto. Law and order will be our responsibility from today," he said. During extensive campaigning in Uttar Pradesh during the recently held polls, Mr Yadav had vowed to cleanse his party of "goonda-giri" or hooliganism; he had also said
that his top priority would be to deliver law and order to a state besieged by crime.

Earlier in the day, Mr Yadav, dressed in white kurta pyjama and black sleeveless jacket and looking uncannily like his father Mulayam Singh Yadav, took oath at 11.34 am at the La Martiniere College grounds in Lucknow.  He firmly shook hands with Governor BL Joshi, and then, a picture of calm, reached into his left breast pocket for a pen, signed and waved to the hundreds of SP supporters who had gathered at the venue since early morning.
Nineteen Cabinet ministers and 29 ministers of state also took oath, among them the controversial independent MLA with criminal antecedents, Raghuraj Pratap Singh or Raja Bhaiyya, who expectedly thrown his lot with the SP. After taking over as the CM, Akhilesh defended Raja Bhaiyya, who has been a minister before in a Mulayam Singh government, and accused his predecessor Mayawati of filing false cases against him. "We all know how cases against Raja Bhaiyya were filed," he said.
"Organised corruption as happened in the previous regime never took place in the state. There were restrictions during the previous government and UP is now celebrating democracy," he added.

In the star-studded audience cheering Mr Yadav at the swearing-in ceremony were Sitaram Yechury, Biman Bose and industrialist Anil Ambani.

His unruly cadres are already proving to be the new UP Chief Minister's Achilles Heel. He has the advantage of having come to power with an unambiguous majority with 224 seats in the 403-seat UP Assembly. He scripted that Samajwadi Party win with a forward-looking agenda that has promised the people of UP freedom from goonda raj and good law and order, jobs and education, and good economics. He now has his task cut out - he has vowed to implement his election manifesto to the full.

Rival parties wager that law and order will deteriorate in a Samajwadi Party regime, as has happened before. Even before Akhilesh was sworn in, he has been called upon to explain violent conduct of SP workers in several places. He had so far pleaded that officials of the old dispensation were to blame. Now, having taken charge, he has to prove that those were not empty words.
Among other things he promised in that document were sops like laptops students who passed class 10, tablet computers to those who passed class 12, allowance to unemployed youths, free treatment to patients suffering from serious ailments and loan waivers for farmers.

Akhilesh will also have to take a call on constituting a commission for taking legal opinion on providing reservation to Muslims and implementing recommendations of the Ranganath Mishra Commission and the Sachar Committee.

The SP leader has also said that rooting out corruption in the state is among his top priorities. And has promised to remove the ban on student politics in the state.

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Akhilesh defends decision to induct Raja Bhaiyya in cabinet

New Delhi:  New UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, who has been feted for trying to keep away people with dubious antecedents from the Samajwadi Party as he fought a winning battle for UP, will find himself having to repeatedly explain the induction of Independent MLA from Kunda, Raghuraj Pratap Singh or Raja Bhaiyya, in his cabinet.

Raja Bhaiyya, the local strongman of Pratapgarh, has known criminal antecedents; today, after taking over as UP CM, Mr Yadav defended his minister accusing his predecessor Maywati of filing false cases against Mr Singh. The 42-year-old Raja Bhaiya has been a minister before in a Mulayam Singh Yadav government. But that government had not come to power promising to rid UP of goonda raj and law and order problems. Akhilesh Yadav's did.

The MLA was arrested in 2002 on charges of kidnapping and was later jailed by the then Mayawati government under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA), charges which were dropped the moment Mulayam Singh Yadav came to power in 2003.

In 2004, a police officer alleged that Raja Bhaiyya was targeting him for vendetta. Later that year the police officer died in a road accident. The CBI is investigating that death.

All this has not stalled Raja Bhaiyya's political career; he has won elections from Kunda a record five times as an Independent since 1993, when he first contested. His association with the SP has always been strong. He was made minister in 2005. When the BSP was winning all over UP in 2007, it could not dent the Raja Bhaiyya fortress of Kunda. This time, the SP did not field a candidate against him and before the elections he declared that the party would sweep UP. When it did, he expectedly threw in his lot with it.

Mr Singh belongs to a well-known UP family. His grandfather Raja Bajarang Bahadur Singh was the founder vice chancellor of Pant Nagar University and was later also governor of Himachal Pradesh. His father Udai Pratap Singh was educated at Doon School.

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Akhilesh Yadav to be sworn in as Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister today

Lucknow:  Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav is set to take oath as Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh today for the first time, after his party gained absolute majority by winning 224 seats in the 403-member Assembly.

38-year-old Akhilesh will be the state's youngest chief minister and his Cabinet is likely to be a mix of youth and experience.

He, however, will have his task cut out fulfilling the long list of promises made by his party in its poll manifesto.

Samajwadi Party had announced a slew of poll sops, including providing laptops to intermediate pass students, tablet computers to high-school pass outs, allowance to unemployed youths, free treatment to patients suffering from serious ailments and loan waivers for farmers.

Akhilesh will also have to take a call on constituting a commission for taking legal opinion on providing reservation to Muslims and implementing recommendations of the Ranganath Mishra Commission and the Sachar Committee.

The SP leader has said improving law and order situation and rooting out corruption in the state are among his top priorities.

Besides, restoration of student unions in universities and colleges will also be a challenge for him.

Even before taking the reins of the state, the party is under attack from Opposition parties, including outgoing Chief Minister Mayawati, who has alleged that the law and order situation had deteriorated following declaration of poll results in favour of SP.

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Talk of Third Front is a good idea: Akhilesh

New Delhi:  Akhilesh Yadav, who will soon be the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister riding a tidal wave that swept his Samajwadi Party to power, says that a Third Front is a good idea.
The 38-year-old, who won UP on a forward-looking agenda, said today that all the recent debate about a political Third Front was a good beginning. Only yesterday, his father and SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav had said that there was no talk of a Third Front yet.
Mulayam Singh has been one of the pivots of efforts over the years to consolidate smaller parties of the country and the Left into a non-Congress, non-BJP front as an electoral option at the Centre. Speculation about a Third Front has gained momentum ever since the Congress, which heads a troubled coalition at the Centre, got a drubbing in the assembly elections in Punjab and UP, with talk that UPA allies like Mamata Banerjee might not be averse to walking over to such a third front. This amid reports that regional parties that rule states or that sense a chance to do well in their states are now are looking at the possibility of new alignments and early general elections. Parties like the BJP and its Punjab ally Akali Dal have talked openly about early elections.

Akhilesh Yadav is not looking at early general elections. He said today that, "The chances of a mid-term poll happening doesn't look likely." Mr Yadav was also at pains to explain that his focus was UP and only that.
The SP leader did however extend an invitation to UPA partner Mamata Banerjee to attend his swearing-in ceremony. He also invited J Jayalalithaa, AIADMK chief and Tamil Nadu chief minister. After initially indicating that she would go attend both Mr Yadav's swearing-in and that of the Akalis in Punjab, Ms Banerjee's party said that because the Assembly session in West Bengal begins this week, Ms Banerjee will remain in Kolkata but will send representatives to Lucknow and Chandigarh. Her changed itinerary followed a warning from the Congress which spelled out its displeasure. There are reports that Ms Banerjee is being looked upon reportedly being wooed as a possible partner is there is a move to launch Third Front.
Now there are reports that Mamata Banerjee is not going to Chandigarh for the Akali swearing in, but NCP chief and another Congress ally Sharad Pawar is likely to attend.  
The Congress though can take heart from words from Bihar. Both sides of the political spectrum in the state - Lalu Prasad Yadav of the RJD and Nitish Kumar of the JD(U) - rule out the possibility of a Third Front in the near future.  Nitish Kumar who is Chief Minister of  Bihar and runs a government in partnership with the BJP said, "We can't see anything shaping up in the form of a third front right now."
Lalu Prasad was more eloquent. "It is a closed chapter. I have a bitter-sweet experience of the third front. But I see no signs of it," he said. Lalu Prasad also said he did not see the possibility of mid-term elections.

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In the mood for Akhilesh, Samajwadi Party agrees he will be chief minister of Uttar Pradesh

Lucknow:  As the votes for the Uttar Pradesh elections were being counted, Mulayam Singh Yadav's two young grand-daughters were asked who would be chief minister. "Daadu," they cooed, referring to Mulayam. The political instincts of the youngest generation of the Yadav family apparently need some fine-tuning.  
It is their father, 38-year-old Akhilesh, who will tomorrow be declared the head of the new government, sources have told NDTV. His father has established that his own political acumen remains top-grade - in a matter of three days, he has wooed a faction of the party that was opposed to a rookie as chief minister into consensus.
So Akhilesh's name reportedly will be proposed at a meeting of all its elected representatives to the Assembly by Azam Khan. Before Holi, Mr Khan was among those who reportedly did not share the enthusiasm of most other party members who said it was time for the younger Yadav to take charge. The swearing-in will most likely be on Monday. 
There were signs today of things to come - it was Akhilesh who addressed the press amid a continuum of acts of violence by his party workers in different parts of the state. "We will throw people out of the party if necessary to ensure that fair inquiries can be held," he said, with the authority of a leader with weighty mandate. "I've asked our workers to remain calm and polite even if members from other parties try to provoke or instigate them," he added.
The zero-tolerance for goonda-ism or hooliganism was emphasized by Akhilesh through his long campaign. Pedaling his party symbol, the cycle, he wheeled his party into a whopping 226 seats - the biggest total in two decades in UP for any political party. His youth helped testify for the change he promised - "Ummeed ki cycle" became his mantra. In a complete reversal of earlier agendas, he announced laptops for all college-going students. Three years ago, before the 2009 General Elections, the SP had said it was against the use of English and the use of computers. Voters seemed charmed by his sincerity - he would often hop off his cycle and talk to them for hours, spending as much time at these roadside chats as at the massive rallies that formally requested the people to vote for his father aka "netaji."
His ferocious share of the vote came at the cost of another young leader being projected as Generation Next. 41-year-old Rahul Gandhi took the responsibility for managing the Congress campaign. When the results were declared, he took the responsibility for a lost opportunity. Exhausted by the corruption and misadministration of Mayawati, UP sought a change in record numbers, its turnout through the different days of voting a healthy indicator of a state looking for an option. Despite Mr Gandhi's committed and energetic campaign, the Congress was dismissed as an unsuitable option, placing fourth. It added just six seats to the 22 it won in the last election.  
In his implausibly large victory, Akhilesh has shown humility. "Someone comes first, another person comes second," he said. His experience on the wrong side of the finish line is not inadequate. In 2007, his father was evicted from office by Mayawati, who merged UP's caste equations into a Perfect 10 formula. Then in 2009, Akhilesh's wife Dimple contested a by-election for the Lok Sabha from Ferozabad in UP - a seat her husband had won and vacated just five months earlier. The SP took the voters for granted; the Congress turned the election into a prestige point. Mr Gandhi led a pantheon of leaders to campaign for actor-politician Raj Babbar, a former Samajwadi party man. Embarrassed and bitter, Akhilesh had blamed Mr Gandhi for his wife's defeat.
The political maturity that has been visible during his campaign will be challenged by the state he leads. UP struggles with poverty, malnutrition, illiteracy, unemployment, crime and corruption. While he deals with that dire agenda, his father is expected to push the party's fortunes in Delhi. In its alliance with Mamata Banerjee at the centre, the Congress is beginning to feel that it isn't getting a great bargain for the MPs she brings to the UPA coalition. Mulayam's renewed strength in UP makes him an attractive option. His numbers in UP will give him more Rajya Sabha seats, where the UPA is in a minority. With general elections scheduled for 2014, Mulayam is expected by his party to work on the bigger picture.
For Akhilesh, it is the details that will count. He has been handed his state; what he does with it could make history - good or bad.
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