Uttar Pradesh

Maurya said this while responding to Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav who had said during a rally that he can provide an opportunity to the BJP leader to become the Chief Minister. During an interaction with IANS, Maurya said: "I am a Swayamsevak... and a Swayamsevak never aims for any position. Akhilesh Yadav has a greed for positions and that's why he is making such statements."

The yatra that is expected to reach Uttar Pradesh in the first week of January, will now pass through Ghaziabad, Hapur, Meerut, Baghpat, Muzaffarnagar, Shamli and Saharanpur before moving into Haryana. "The yatra may have a break in the New Year and enter the state only in the first week of January. Congress general secretary (in-charge UP) Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, is likely to accompany her brother in UP as well in the coming weeks," a party functionary said.

Yogi Adityanath will be the first chief minister of UP to be attending the WEF meeting. A delegation of senior officials from the state industries department will accompany him. Invest UP, the state's investment promotion and facilitation agency, has been delegated the responsibility to make arrangements for the trip and take the help of industry body Confederation of Indian Industries, as and when required.

Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya has now called Samajwadi leader Mohd Azam Khan a 'riot-provoking' minister of the previous SP regime. He also accused him of unleashing terror on people of Rampur by encroaching upon their land and is now shedding crocodile tears. Maurya said that the BJP government has done the work of ending the terror of Azam Khan. He recalled that a stampede that occurred at the Kumbh mela was organised during the SP regime.

Addressing his first election rally in Mainpuri, the Chief Minister targeted the Yadav clan, and said: "Some people have become a football. They should ensure that they are not treated like one. Shivpal Yadav was not even given a chair to sit on and we all saw him sitting on the handle of a chair not so long ago."

The campaign revolves around emotional bonds, betrayal and promises instead of political and social issues that should have been dominating the elections. In the Mainpuri Lok Sabha constituency, Samajwadi Party candidate Dimple Yadav is invoking memories of her father-in-law Mulayam Singh Yadav, whose demise necessitated the bypoll.

Alarmed at the trend, UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath decided to bring in a law that would check such cases and by November 2020, the Prohibition of Unlawful Religious Conversion Act came into force through an ordinance. The Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Religious Conversion Bill, 2021, was passed after a voice vote in the state assembly. in February 2021.

The contest in Mainpuri, considered to be an SP bastion, is between Mulayam Singh's daughter-in-law Dimple Yadav and the BJP's Raghunath Shakya. Mulayam Singh had first contested from Mainpuri seat in 1996 and won. Since then, the seat has remained with the SP. According to the political pundits, the elections of Mainpuri were fought on the basis of caste only. This is reason why apart from the issues or wave in the byelection, both SP and BJP are eyeing the caste equations.

His visit to Arunachal Pradesh is being seen as a key step towards boosting connectivity in the northeast region.PM Modi will inaugurate the first greenfield airport called Donyi Polo airport at Itanagar, during his visit. Developed at a cost of more than Rs 640 crore, the airport will improve connectivity and act as a catalyst for tourism and economic activities there.

State minister for minority welfare, Muslim Waqf and Haj, Dharampal Singh, said he had directed department officials to upload a list of all unrecognised madrasas on the department portal and the MELA app so that parents should get correct information regarding any particular madrasa and they do not end up sending their children to the wrong institutes where they can be misled.