Will BJP get a new alliance partner in Uttar Pradesh?
The BJP has four alliance partners in Uttar Pradesh—Om Prakash Rajbhar’s Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party, Anupriya Patel’s Apna Dal, Sanjay Nishad’s NISHAD party and Jayant Chaudhary’s Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD). However, speculation is rife that the party is looking to expand the alliance.
It began after the BJP’s Uttar Pradesh chief, Pankaj Chaudhary, recently met Raja Bhaiya, the chief of Jansatta Dal Loktantrik, who is known for his strongman image.
Raja Bhaiya has repeatedly won assembly elections as an Independent candidate. In 2018, he floated his own party, which currently has two MLAs in the Uttar Pradesh assembly.
The meeting is significant because Raja Bhaiya is considered close to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, while Chaudhary is not counted among the CM’s close aides. According to BJP insiders, Chaudhary met Raja Bhaiya after consulting the party’s central leadership. Sources also said Adityanath had wanted Raja Bhaiya to join the NDA for the past few years, but it didn’t happen.
Chaudhary’s meeting has now fuelled speculation that Raja Bhaiya could join the BJP-led alliance ahead of the 2027 polls. People close to Raja Bhaiya, meanwhile, said that even if a formal alliance does not materialise, the meeting could pave the way for an understanding between the two sides, which could ultimately benefit the BJP.
No drinking water in Telangana secretariat
The sprawling Dr B.R. Ambedkar Telangana State Secretariat in Hyderabad was designed as a symbol of modern administrative efficiency. But its gleaming corridors recently witnessed a sight reminiscent of 25 years ago: senior bureaucrats, section officers and peshi clerks carrying water bottles from home.
The reason is simple: the water dispensers have run dry. The shortage, however, has little to do with El Niño. Private contractors have abruptly stopped supplying the standard 20-litre drinking water cans because the state government owes them around Rs 50 lakh in unpaid bills.
The opposition Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), which brought the issue to light, called it an administrative failure of the Congress government. The Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWSSB) has clarified that its bulk municipal water supply to the Secretariat’s underground sumps remained unaffected.
For a government that routinely clears multi-crore infrastructure projects, the inability to pay vendors Rs 50 lakh for basic drinking water is, BRS leaders said, a stark metaphor for the current state of governance in Telangana. The lack of timely action and preparedness has left not only the dispensers but also the corridors of power without drinking water, they added.
(Edited by Chingkheinganbi Mayengbam)
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