As Haryana poll draws closer, the crack within opposition camps is widening. After Bahujan Samaj Party (SP'>BSP) scrapped its pact with the Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC), now one of its most successful candidates in the last Lok Sabha election former cricketer Chetan Sharma quit the blue party on Tuesday. Sharma joined the BJP at a function in Faridabad, though he claimed he would not contest the forthcoming assembly elections.

The cricketer-turned-politician joined the saffron party in the presence of State BJP president Krishna Pal Gujjar.

With the Bahujan Samaj Party (SP'>BSP) deciding to contest all 288 seats for the upcoming Maharashtra Assembly polls on its own, most party leaders believe that the present situation in the state suits their political agenda.

The party will give a final shape to its list of candidates by September 15.

The SP'>BSP has directed leaders involved with Maharashtra affairs to project the party as the only force that can revive the Ambedkar movement in the state.

Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi on Tuesday threatened statewide protests in August if investigation into the arson attack on her house was not handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

“We do not have any trust in the state government. If the case of fire and arson is not referred to the CBI by July 31, we will launch a statewide agitation from August 1,” Joshi told mediapersons .

Utter Pradesh Congress Committee chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi, whose house was set on fire following her remarks against Chief Minister Mayawati, on Monday said there was a grave threat to her life.

“I have grave threat to my security and she (Mayawati) can plan attacks on me. My life is in danger now but I am not scared. I have lived a lot but I will continue to fight for the poor, the oppressed and for women’s rights,” Rita told reporters here.

Rita was arrested and charged under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. She was granted interim bail by a Moradabad court on Saturday. Thereafter, she went to Delhi and returned to Lucknow on Monday.

Moradabad court on Saturday granted interim bail to Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi.

The UPCC chief was granted bail on a surety of Rs 30,000.

Rita Bahuguna Joshi was arrested on Wednesday for a speech against Mayawati that the chief minister said was insulting to her as a woman and a Dalit.

Joshi was charged under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and sent to judicial custody for 14 days.

The Supreme Court on Friday refused to issue a stay order on the installation of Bhaujan Samaj Party supremo and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati’s statues in a Noida park.

Passing the order, the Supreme Court said that the court cannot intervene in such matters until and unless a case of misappropriation of fund is made.

A PIL was filed by advocate Ravi Kant seeking a stay on installation of statue of Mayawati and other Dalit leaders in Noida.

Both Congress and Bharaitya Janata Party (BJP) refused to comment of the SC order but advised Mayawati not to erect her statues.

Mayawati’s SP'>BSP, which was part of the Third Front in the Lok Sabha elections, today announced unconditional outside support of its 21 MPs to the Congress-led UPA government.

Mayawati told a meeting of party leaders that SP'>BSP had decided to support the UPA with the objective of keeping the BJP out of power. This assertion, however, is likely to be pooh-poohed by the political analysts, who feel that this was an attempt to ensure that Samajwadi Party does not become too powerful under the present dispensation.

That means the new government will be comfortably ahead of the halfway mark in parliament. The UPA won 263 seats in the just-concluded Lok Sabha polls, nine short of the halfway mark.

Mayawati said that she had authorised senior SP'>BSP leader Satish C. Mishra to go to the president to hand over a letter extending SP'>BSP support to the UPA government.

SP supremo had launched the “Fourth Front” with RLD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav and LJP supremo Ram Vilas Paswan at a huge function in Lucknow claiming that the trio would head the government at the Centre since there was no other alliance strong enough to counter them. A little later, the SP slipped down to supporting a “Third Front” coalition before eventually coming down to supporting a Congress-led coalition in New Delhi.

SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, while addressing a gathering in Mainpuri on Thursday morning said his party will not mind supporting a Congress led government at the Centre post Lok Sabha polls. Later in the day, party general secretary Amar Singh approved of Mulayam’s statement while talking to the mediapersons in Ghaziabad.

But Mulayam’s support for a Congress led government came with a rider: “We will support it – or perhaps any other party for that matter – which agrees to pull down the Mayawati government in Uttar Pradesh.”

The Fourth phase of polling for the 15th general elections of India will be held on Thursday (May 7).

Haryana (10 constituencies), Rajasthan (25) and the NCT of Delhi (7) would vote in all their constituencies in the fourth phase.

Bihar (three constituencies) would also complete voting in all its constituencies with this phase itself as the other constituencies of this state had already voted in the previous three phases.

The rest of the four states would witness one among the various phases of polling in the general elections. West Bengal (17 constituencies), Punjab (4), Jammu and Kashmir (1) and Uttar Pradesh (18) are those states that would witness a part of the state going to polls.

A total of 85 constituencies, with 1315 contesting candidates, would go to polls in the fourth phase of the general elections.

Polling would commence at 0700 hrs and close at 1700 hrs in 1.29 lakh booths, which would be manned by over six lakh election officials.

BJP President Rajnath Singh (Ghaziabad), Congress’ Pranab Mukherjee,Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav (Mainpuri) and RJD supremo Lalu Prasad (Pataliputra), National Conference’s Farooq Abdullah (Srinagar), Congress’ Kapil Sibal (Chandni Chowk), Sachin Pilot (Ajmer), Shekhar Suman (Patna Saheb), Ajay Maken (New Delhi), BJP’s Shatrughan Sinha (Patna Saheb), HJC’s Bhajan Lal (Hisar) and RLD’s Ajit Singh (Baghpat) are among the prominent candidates in this phase.

Voters in Bihar’s Patna Saheb constituency have a choice Thursday between entertainment stars Shatrughan ‘Shotgun’ Sinha and Shekhar ‘Shaker’ Suman as their representative to the Lok Sabha.

These two apart, 14 candidates, including RJD’s Vijay Kumar Sahu and Ram Narayan Rai of the CPI-ML (Liberation) are in the race from Patna Saheb, the polling to which will be held on May 7.

Both Sinha and Suman hail from Patna and belong to the Kayastha community, which accounts for over four lakh from the 16 lakh voters in the constituency.

Both the actors are popular and are liked by the people of Bihar dearly. Incidentally the fight is going on in a friendly manner in an otherwise unruly Bihar. Shekar Suman respectfully calls Shatrughan Sinha as Bade Bhaiyya (Big Brother) while addressing Mr Sinha in his election rallies. Shotgun calls Suman, Chote Bhai (Younger Brother) during his election speeches and so goes the election campaign.

The Congress received a major boost to their confidence on Monday night, brightening its chances in the North East parliamentary constituency, when SP'>BSP candidate Haji Dilshad Ali announced his support for the party (congress).

Dilshad, who had lost the last assembly election from Babarpur seat by a narrow margin, was seen as a major spoiler for the Congress in North East. According to estimates, Muslims and Dalits have over 8 lakh votes in this constituency. By fielding a Muslim candidate the SP'>BSP was hopeful of scoring well from here. On the other hand, there had been strong indication of over 1.8 lakh Brahmin votes and large chunk of Vaisya votes could have polarised for BJP candidate B L Sharma.

Actor and budding politician Sanjay Dutt on Wednesday apologised for his ‘jhuppi and puppi’ remarks on Uttar Pradesh chief minister.Sanjay Dutt said the ‘jaadu ki jhappi and pappi’ comment was meant to spread message of love in society.

Dutt, in his reply to the showcause notice served by the Pratapgarh DM, said the ‘jhappi’ and ‘pappi’ statement is a dialogue from his movie, which is meant to spread love in the society.

Dutt said he addressed chief minister as Behenji, which means sister, hence this statement should be treated as an affection of a brother towards his sister.

A case has been registered against senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh for his alleged derogatory remarks against UP Chief Minister Mayawati during a poll rally on Tuesday.

According to reports, Digvijay Singh made objectionable remarks in the poll rally. In this connection, the Local Sub Divisional Magistrate has lodged the complaint against the leader with Mallawan Kotwali police.

The case has been registered under sections 144 and 128.

The SP'>BSP on Tuesday said that it would move the court for disqualification of the six MLAs who left it to join the ruling Congress in Rajasthan early this month, terming their move “unconstitutional”.

At a rally on the birth anniversary of B R Ambedkar, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and party supremo Mayawati alleged it was a political conspiracy to damage the SP'>BSP.

“The party would move the court for disqualification of the six MLAs who joined the Congress party,” Ms. Mayawati said and claimed that “under the anti-defection law the national party or its faction has to merge with another political party, then MLAs and their supporters may join.”

Bahujan Samaj Party (SP'>BSP) declared names of 17 candidates, who will contest from various seats in Gujarat during the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections.

SP'>BSP, headed by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati, has decided to contest all the 26 seats in the state, without forming alliance with any of the national parties, a party statement said.

In the forthcoming elections, SP'>BSP will field Pravin Solanki from the Ahmedabad-west (SC) constituency, while Mohan Namori will contest from Kutch which is also reserved for the Scheduled Caste.

The four candidates for the reserved Scheduled Tribe seat include Ramsingh Kalara from Dahod, Prakash Bhil from Chotta Udaipur, Ranjanaben Gamit from Bardoli and Chagan Patel from Valsad.

SP'>BSP leader Mayawati is likely to visit Ahmedabad on March 31 to launch her party’s election campaign in the state.

Allahabad High Court on Wednesday denied permission to history-sheeter and Bahujan Samajwadi Party (SP'>BSP) candidate Mukhtar Ansari to file the nomination for contesting in the Lok Sabha elections.

The court observed that Ansari can not contest elections as he does not have voting rights.

Mukhtar Ansari is an independent MLA from Mau and is now a SP'>BSP candidate from Varanasi.

Ansari and his brother Afzal Ansari are named in the murder of BJP MLA Krishnanand Rai.

Mukhtar Ansari is SP'>BSP candidate from Varanasi Parliamentary seat.

The Bahujan Samaj Party (SP'>BSP) will contest all the assembly and Lok Sabha seats in Andhra Pradesh, said party chief and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati.

Addressing a public meeting in Hyderabad, she said the party would contest the elections on its own and have no alliance with any party. She promised that justice would be done to all sections of the society in party ticket distribution.

The party had contested in the 2004 assembly and general elections. While it failed to win any Lok Sabha seat, the party won one in the assembly – the legislator, however, later deserted the SP'>BSP.

Bahujan Samaj party chief and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati has said that her party will not form any alliance with any party and will go alone in all states in the coming Lok Sabha polls.

She lashed out at the Congress and BJP and said that SP'>BSP is the alternative to these parties at the Centre. She also made it clear that SP'>BSP will contest Lok Sabha elections alone. Mayawati will host a dinner for the Third Front leaders today.

Addressing a press conference, Mayawati said tonight’s dinner she is hosting for Third Front leaders will neither discuss the question of prime ministership nor the front’s electoral strategy, but would definitely discuss plans to keep UPA and NDA out of power.

Alleging discrimination against Brahmins in the Samajwadi Party, the national president of its women’s wing, Ranjana Bajpai, on Saturday quit the party to join the SP'>BSP.

Bajpai’s decision to quit SP came after the party decided to replace her with Mahendra Verma from Sitapur for Lok Sabha elections. But soon after her somersault, she claimed that there is no respect for Brahmins in SP which has been converted into a family run business by Mulayam Singh Yadav, who in turn, is captive to whims and fancies of SP general secretary Amar Singh.

Bajpai is the twelfth SP leader to join SP'>BSP this year and 17th in last one year. All turncoats have been rewarded with election tickets or party posts.

Bahujan Samaj Party (SP'>BSP) supremo Mayawati’s former lieutenants have joined hands to float a new alliance with the sole objective of challenging their former party.

The new alliance – Adhikar Manch – which has decided to contest all the 80 seats in the state, launched its poll campaign even before the dates of the Lok Sabha elections were announced.

The group comprises leaders who were considered as trusted lieutenants of Mayawati and Kanshiram.

The campaign is being led by regional party Apna Dal headed by Sone Lal Patel, who was once a SP'>BSP rank holder.

Another alliance partner Bhartiya Samaj Party, too is an off shoot of the ruling SP'>BSP. Bhartiya Samaj Party is led by Om Prakash Rajbhar, who was once a trusted party member of Mayawati.

Bahujan Samaj Party (SP'>BSP) General Secretary and the party’s coordinator for Kerala and Tamil Nadu Suresh Mane said the party would field candidates in all 39 Lok Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu.

“Our party will contest all 40 seats, including the one in Puducherry. This is to show the political strength of SP'>BSP in Tamil Nadu,” Mane said.

He said the party had already selected 12 candidates who would file their nominations for the polls, while the names of the other candidates would be announced in a phased manner later on.

On the campaign strategy, he said SP'>BSP chief Mayawati would twice visit the state — before the filing of nominations and once again after the nominations are over.

Parliamentary elections will be held in April-May.