U.P. polls | Samajwadi Party finds new icon in APJ Abdul Kalam, denies loss of ‘Muslim face’
The Hindu
Samajwadi Party dismissed charges that it was an attempt by the party to compensate for the loss of the party’s “Muslim face” Azam Khan
Aggressively positioning itself against the BJP in the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls, the Samajwadi Party seems to have found a new icon for itself -- former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam -- who shares space with Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and socialist leaders on rath.
The Samajwadi Vijay Yatra rath -- Akhilesh Yadav’s personalised campaign vehicle -- carries pictures of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and socialist icons like Acharya Narendra Dev, Ram Manohar Lohia and Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar, apart from that of former President Kalam.
In 2011, the Karnataka government announced that five botanical gardens will be developed on the lines of the Lalbagh Botanical Garden in Bengaluru across the State. But according to the latest developments, there will only be four such gardens as the Horticulture Department is most likely to drop the project that was supposed to come up in Chikkaballapura district.