oppn parties UP Cabinet Expansion: Getting Battle-Ready For 2022

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  • Neha Bora was subsequently released and Dipke is to appear before a magistrate today at noon
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  • 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
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  • 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 Cabinet Expansion: Getting Battle-Ready For 2022

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2021-09-27 03:59:02

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

As the BJP gears up for its biggest test in the UP elections in 2022 that will have a direct bearing on its prospects in the 2024 general elections, chief minister Yogi Adityanath's expansion of the cabinet was full of signals to the constituencies the party has wooed and nurtured since 2014. Yogi inducted seven new ministers. One is a Brahmin, three are from OBCs, 2 are SC and one ST. It consolidates the upper caste, OBC (non-Yadav) and SC (non-Jatav) social coalition that the BJP, under Amt Shah's astute guidance, has cultivated in the past and which had given it a major share of its votes and seats in the state. Significantly, the same caste combination was used to induct seven ministers from the state in the Union cabinet a couple of months back. The masterstroke was in inducting the recent convert Jitin Prasada, a Brahmin, as a cabinet minister. This will assuage the Brahmin vote bank and since Prasada was with the Congress earlier, influence those from the community who voted for the Congress to now think of switching to BJP.

Thus, with this double bonanza for the rainbow social coalition, the BJP is trying to fight anti-incumbency in UP by consolidating its base rather than a change of guard like it did in Gujarat. In any case, Yogi Adityanath is not Vijay Rupani. He is the third most important leader in the BJP after PM Modi and Amit Shah and is handling the state that elects 80 Lok Sabha MPs. The BJP will do all it can to strengthen his hands to sweep UP. Consolidating the caste combination is the first and the most important step in that direction. Of all states, the BJP has the best booth-level set-up in UP, even better than Gujarat, and that is the main reason it keeps sweeping the state since 2014.

In any case, the state of the opposition will provide solace to the BJP. The Congress, despite trying hard, is a spent force and is nowhere in the calculations, not even as an alliance partner. The SP and the BSP have their own problems and have not recovered from the 2017 drubbing. The BJP has made inroads in their vote banks and has even snared some of their leaders. Their finances are also not enough to contest the polls in a befitting manner. Although AAP is trying to flex its muscles, it is as yet too small a player in the state to make much of a difference in 2022. In the end, the SP might ally with the Congress and other smaller parties and there will be three-cornered fights in most constituencies and four-cornered where the AAP puts up candidates. That will be to BJP's advantage as it will divide the opposition votes. 

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