Lucknow, Dec 14 : After Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati said she was in favour of statehood for Bundelkhand, an organisation from the backward region that straddles Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh has announced an agitation to push their demand for a separate state.

Bundelkhand Mukti Morcha (BMM) convenor Raja Bundela, addressing reporters here Monday, said that political parties were playing politics with their region, which consists of around 50 million people.

Lucknow, Dec 14 : Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati Monday expelled her Bahujan Samaj Party's (BSP) general secretary Shahid Siddiqui from the party.

Siddiqui's exit came within hours of the publication of his interview in a national English daily where he sought to brand Mayawati as a despot.

Carried on the front page of the Indian Express, the report was headlined "Mayawati comes, speaks, goes, there's no discussion". With a few hours of the report, her trusted lieutenant and multiple portfolio cabinet minister Babu Singh Kushwaha issued a press statement announcing Siddiqui's ouster.

Lucknow, Dec 14 - The Indian Institute of Technology, Rajasthan (IIT-R), which has been operating from the IIT Kanpur campus for the past two academic sessions, is set to shift to Jodhpur.

According to an IIT official, the human resource development ministry has identified around 700 acres along the Jodhpur-Nagaur road in Rajasthan for setting up IIT-R.

However, till the upcoming campus is ready to start its operations, IIT-R will function from a Jodhpur-based government engineering college affiliated to the Jai Narain Vyas University, also in Jodhpur, the official added.

Lucknow, Dec 12 : A community council in an Uttar Pradesh town has banned loud music and bands at marriage functions, saying they violate the provisions of the Shariat (Islamic law) and are a waste of money.

A panchayat (community council) of the Ansari community in Rajowala village near Shamli town in Muzaffarnagar, some 350 km from Lucknow, issued the order Friday night and hundreds of people from over 20 villages around Shamli unanimously agreed to abide by it, according to local residents.

Lucknow, Dec 12 : At least 12 members of a marriage party were killed and 24 others critically injured when their vehicle collided with a bus in Uttar Pradesh's Etawah district, police said Saturday.

The accident took place in Ekdil town in Etawah, some 300 km from Lucknow, when the mini truc carrying the marriage party collided with the bus owned by the state-run Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (UPSRTC), police added.

"The accident was due to the fault of the driver of the mini truck, who all of a sudden, changed lanes," Inspector Rajnish Kumar told IANS on the telephone.

Lucknow, Dec 12 : A student shot at two girl students of a college, killing one of them, in Uttar Pradesh's Muzaffarnagar district, the police said Saturday.

The incident took place at the S. D. Degree College where the 20-year-old student whipped out a revolver and fired at the girls of the same college.

While Neelam, a student of B. A. first year, died on her way to the hospital, her friend Jaimala was in critical condition. It was not clear why the shooting took place.(IANS)

Lucknow, Dec 12 - The Congress party in Uttar Pradesh has offered its support for the agitating sugarcane farmers in the state and urged the Mayawati government to announce a higher price for cane.

The Congress will organise a joint demonstration with farmers' outfit Rashtriya Kisan Mazdoor Sangathan (RKMS) and other sugarcane growers' unions at the Ganna Bhawan here Dec 16 to protest against the state government's price policy, party leaders said.

Lucknow, Dec 11 : The Allahabad High Court Friday ordered 15-day imprisonment to Aligarh Development Authority vice-chairman Rama Shankar for contempt of court, officials said.

A fine of Rs. 2,000 was also imposed on the official.

Justice D. P. Singh, who passed the order, later suspended its implementation till Dec 17, following the request of the counsel of the senior Provincial Civil Service (PCS) officer, they added.

Lucknow, Dec 11 : Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Friday strongly demanded the Centre to create separate states of Bundelkhand and Paschim Uttar Pradesh.

Addressing a press conference here Mayawati said: “Today I wrote a letter to the Prime Minister demanding the creation of separate Bundelkhand and Paschim Uttar Pradesh.”

“My government and my party (Bahujan Samaj Party) are in favour of creation on smaller states and administrative units. We expresses the same many times earlier.”

Lucknow, Dec 11 : Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati Friday said she is for creation of independent states of Bundelkhand and Harit Pradesh out of an "unmanageable Uttar Pradesh".

"I have written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh urging him to give us clearance for creating independent states of Budelkhand and Harit Pradesh out of a giant-sized and unmanageable Uttar Pradesh," Mayawati told a hurriedly convened press conference here Friday evening.

Lucknow, Dec 11 - Congress president Sonia Gandhi arrived here Friday and headed to her constituency Rae Bareli to evaluate the implementation of developmental schemes there, a party official said.

Gandhi is on a two-day tour of Rae Bareli, 80 km from Lucknow.

"While going to Rae Bareli, Soniaji will halt at several places and interact with people to know their problems," Akhilesh Pratap Singh, the state Congress spokesperson, told reporters here.

Lucknow, Dec 11 - Maoists have beheaded a 25-year-old man after branding him a police informer in a village in Uttar Pradesh's Sonbhadra district, police said Friday.

A group of nearly 10 armed Maoists Thursday beheaded Shiv Prakash, a resident of Pannuganj village in Sonbhadra, some 250 km from here, after holding a panchayat meeting in the village, they added.

"They (Maoists) carried out the gruesome act just to create terror amongst the locals," police inspector Raveendra Singh told reporters in Sonbhadra.

Lucknow, Dec 10 : Panic gripped an Uttar Pradesh hospital Thursday after a bomb was recovered from its premises, police said.

A packet containing gunpowder, splinters, metallic pieces and a glass bottle filled with a pungent smelling liquid, was found near the operation theatre of the women's hospital in Sitapur, some 80 km from Lucknow.

"Soon after getting the information about the bomb, we rushed to the hospital and managed to defuse it," Deputy Superintendent of Police Shishupal Singh told reporters.

Lucknow, Dec 9 :The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has confirmed that a senior officer of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) in Uttar Pradesh made a false declaration of age.

The officer, Lalit Verma, is currently posted as secretary of the state government's department of sports and youth welfare. He had topped the civil services examination in 1984.

Lucknow, Dec 9 : Three men were arrested with nearly 150 kg of ammonium nitrate, 95 detonators and 2,500 feet length of fuse wires in Uttar Pradesh, police said Wednesday.

The men were arrested from Shankergarh area of the Allahabad district that borders Madhya Pradesh.

Lucknow, Dec 9 : Congress president Sonia Gandhi will go on a two-day tour of her constituency Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh from Friday to evaluate the developmental schemes there, party officials said here Wednesday.

"During the two-day tour, Sonia-ji would make surprise visits to a number of villages in Rae Bareli to know the reality of central-government sponsored schemes and will also interact with the locals to know their problems," Subodh Srivastava, spokesperson of the party's state unit, told reporters here.    

Lucknow, Dec 9 - Three people have been arrested with the skins of four spotted deer in an Uttar Pradesh district bordering Nepal, a forest official said Wednesday.

"The three men, who are in their late 30s, were nabbed Tuesday night from their hideout in a village adjoining the Motipur forest of Sohelwa wildlife sanctuary," Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) V. P. Singh told IANS over the phone from Balrampur, some 200 km from Lucknow.

According to officials, the three men have admitted that they were in the poaching trade for the last two years and worked for a Nepal-based wildlife poaching gang.

The three men also admitted to having clients in Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand and other states of the country.

Lucknow, Dec. 8 : Activists of Samajwadi party on Tuesday protested the two-day visit of Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi to Uttar Pradesh.

The activists termed Rahul''s visit to the region as a mere show-off and said that he might be shinning in the boards and hoardings but not in the hearts of poor people.

Lucknow, Dec. 8 : Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said that there is need for more youth participation in Uttar Pradesh state politics.

Rahul said that the focus of his visit to the State was to further his party''s youth agenda so as to convince the youth of Uttar Pradesh to take up politics as career.

Lucknow, Dec 8 : A meeting of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers in Uttar Pradesh's Bulandshahr district Wednesday, to be addressed by party MP Varun Gandhi, has been denied permission by the local police.

Varun was to address the party workers at the Shikarpur area in Bulandshahr district, some 400 km from Lucknow.

"We have denied permission for the BJP meeting on grounds of law and order," Senior Superintendent of Police Nilesh Kumar told IANS on telephone.