oppn parties UP: BJP On The Backfoot As Exodus Continues

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  • Neha Bora was subsequently released and Dipke is to appear before a magistrate today at noon
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  • The Reserve Bank of India is considering further monetary tightening to counter capital outflows and increase the cost of betting against the rupee, according to bankers and analysts cited by Reuters. The measures follow recent rate increases and steps to drain liquidity as pressure on the currency and inflation concerns persist
  • India directed oil marketing companies to stop diverting sugar-based feedstocks for ethanol production in the 2026–27 supply year, according to a new tender issued on Friday. The companies have invited bids for 11 billion litres of ethanol made from alternatives including corn and broken rice, amid concerns about domestic sugar supplies and prices
  • Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said India's trade imbalance with China was growing sharply and attributed the problem partly to restrictions on Indian goods and services entering the Chinese market. China subsequently said it was ready to work with India to address mutual economic and trade concerns; India's trade deficit with China reached $69 billion in the first half of FY2026–27, up 27% year-on-year
  • Indian equity benchmarks extended their recovery on Friday, with the Sensex rising 413.66 points to close at 74,729.27 and the Nifty 50 gaining 148.80 points to settle at 23,146.15. Information technology shares, including Tech Mahindra, Infosys and TCS, helped lift the indices
  • India defeated Zimbabwe by four wickets in the opening women's T20 International in Raipur, taking a 1–0 lead in the three-match series. Deepti Sharma and Niki Prasad combined in an 82-run stand after India's top order collapsed, helping the hosts chase down Zimbabwe's total of 114 for five
  • Indian wrestler Komal won bronze in the women's 59 kg category at the Under-23 World Wrestling Championships in Las Vegas, defeating Kazakhstan's Viktoriia Khusainova 7–2. Fellow Indian Amruta Pujari advanced to the women's 72 kg final after recording two pinfall victories
  • Indian shuttler Jagsher Singh Khangurra secured a bronze medal at the BWF World Junior Badminton Championships in Cairo
  • The Supreme Court of India upheld the Bombay High Court's decision quashing the 2020 write-off of ₹8,415 crore in additional tier-1 bonds issued by Yes Bank (Yes Bank). The court ruled that the bank's administrator lacked the authority to extinguish the bonds under the final reconstruction scheme, strengthening bondholders' claims
  • The Supreme Court issued notices to the Election Commission of India, Delhi Police and opposition leaders, including Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav, in separate petitions concerning electoral-roll revision and protests held in Delhi on October 10–12. The court also directed the preservation of CCTV footage linked to allegations of police excesses
  • The Supreme Court ruled that a person converting from Hinduism to Islam cannot automatically claim backward-class reservation benefits in the new religious community solely on the basis of their previous caste status. The judgment upheld the Madras High Court's decision striking down a 2024 Tamil Nadu government order that permitted such certification for specified communities
  • The Election Commission of India ordered a Special Summary Revision of electoral rolls in 14 states and three Union Territories, using January 1, 2027, as the qualifying date for voter eligibility. The draft rolls are scheduled for publication on November 12, claims and objections will be accepted until December 11, and the final rolls are due on January 4, 2027
Delhi HC refuses to ban CJP's Tiranga rally at Central Park in Connaught Place today /////// Police says will control and regulate it /////// NDMC closes the park for the public on Friday and Saturday
oppn parties
UP: BJP On The Backfoot As Exodus Continues

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2022-01-13 10:43:41

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator. Author of Cyber Scams in India, Digital Arrest, The Money Trap and The Human Hack

The exodus is gaining pace in UP. On Thursday, one more minister and two more MLAs left the BJP for supposedly greener pastures. In the morning, Mukesh Verma, BJP MLA from Shikohabad (Firozabad), quit from primary membership of the party. A couple of hours later, MLA Vinay Shakya also resigned.  "Swami Prasad Maurya is our leader. We will support whatever decision he takes. Many other leaders will join us in the coming days," Shakya said. Even as the party was absorbing this, Dharam Singh Saini, junior minister in the Yogi cabinet, announced his resignation and left the party. This takes the three-day total to 9 till now showing that it is becoming a major crisis for the BJP ahead of the polls. Most of those who have quit are likely to join the Samajvadi Party (SP).

Although the BJP has not reacted till now (except for a tweet from UP deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya asking rebels to reconsider their decisions) and is going about its business calmly (top leaders of the BJP Central Election Committee met physically and through video conferencing in Delhi today to finalize candidates for the UP assembly polls), it is obvious that the party is rattled by the spate of exits in these last three days. The party's famous and labouriously crafted social engineering experiment is being torn to pieces and it is not able to stop it.

It is also extremely surprising that a party as tightly managed as the BJP did not get a whiff of what the OBC leaders had in mind. The party had, in the last reshuffle of the Union cabinet, hugely increased OBC and backward class representation with a large number of inductees from UP. But it seems that was not enough to quell the discontent of these OBC leaders who felt stifled by Yogi Adityanath's style of functioning and his indifference towards them and the constituency they represent. Their anger can be gauged from the statement of S P Maurya who is boasting that he will finish the BJP.

While that may turn out to be an empty boast as all indicators point to a very close fight between the BJP and the SP, it is now clear that the BJP is no longer the frontrunner. Akhilesh Yadav has turned the game on its head by quietly crafting social engineering of his own by assembling a huge number of micro and small outfits that represent various caste and communities across UP on the SP platform. Their support will give SP a definite edge in close contests. The best thing is that Yadav has done all this without a political strategist at his beck and call. It will take all the charisma of Narendra Modi, the guile of Amit Shah and the 'upyogita' of Yogi Adityanath to fight both anti-incumbency and a resurgent SP and make the BJP win. 

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