Even though Mulayam Singh decided which ministers to drop and which ministers to lose their portfolios, the reshuffle is being projected as a reflection of Akhilesh Yadav's assertive self.

The Allahabad High Court on Wednesday ordered the cancellation of the appointment of controversial Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission chairman Anil Yadav, who was accused of turning the state's highest recruitment body into a private fiefdom by handpicking largely Yadavs for all top jobs.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav made it a point to welcome and felicitate popular Pakistani ghazal maestro Ghulam Ali, who was forced to cancel his show in Mumbai following protests by Shiv Sena.

While refraining from naming any one of them, he said, "I will disclose their names once the investigation is complete," he said.

'I have tried to draw the UN's attention to the very obvious attempt of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to convert a secular India into a theocratic Hindu State.'

Congress MLA Ajay Rai was on Tuesday arrested along with 50 others in connection with violence and arson in Varanasi on Monday as the administration cracked down on miscreants in the holy city where the situation was peaceful amid continued police patrolling.

Azam Khan, the Uttar Pradesh minister for urban development and minority affairs, has sought intervention of the United Nations to what he terms as "Prime Minister Narendra Modi's bid to turn India into a theocratic majority nation."

family of the 50-year-old Mohammad Ikhlaq who was brutally lynched to death by a Hindu mob over beef-eating rumours in Dadri last week were flown in to Lucknow for an audience with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav at his official residence in Lucknow Sunday morning.

Sharat Pradhan secures exclusive access to the Justice Vishnu Sahai report and discovers it blames two BJP MLAs, a former BSP MP and his cohorts, local intelligence officials and the media for the horrific Muzaffarnagar riots of 2013, but attributes no blame to the Samajwadi Party government in the state.

The National Security Act is likely to be invoked against killers of the Mohammad Akhlaq, who was brutally beaten to death on Monday night after locals suspected him of storing and consuming beef.

A one-man judicial commission headed by former high court judge Vishnu Sahai is understood to have indicted government officials more than politicians for the communal violence in Muzaffarnagar and four adjoining districts in 2013.

A court dropped criminal proceedings against Ketan Desai after the CBI failed to obtain the mandatory permission from the government to prosecute him.

The applicants included at least 255 people with doctorates and 150,000 graduates.

Maulana Kalbe Sadiq was told explicitly that it would be possible for him to enter the club premises only if he changed into a shirt-pant or a suit. The organisers' pleas fell on deaf ears and Maluana Sadiq had no choice but to leave the club, much to the embarrassment of the arrangers.

Akhilesh Yadav is now seeking to devote the remaining 18 months of his tenure in casting the state in a new mould.

Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav was in his elements once again on Monday when he chose to run down ministers in his son Akhilesh Yadav's government at a public rally in Mau.

When the governor and chief justice objected to his choice, the UP chief minister just changed the law.

Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav received a jolt on Tuesday when Governor Ram Naik finally rejected his recommendation for the appointment of the state's Lokayukta.

The stalemate over the appointment continues as UP CM Akhilesh Yadav recommends same name to Ram Naik for the fourth time in 20 days.

Uttar Pradesh Congress Legislature Party leader Pradeep Mathur has shot off a letter to Congress president Sonia Gandhi seeking her intervention. Sharat Pradhan reports from Lucknow