Other States - Uttar Pradesh

SP parades rebel BSP MLAs

Lucknow: In a show of strength after being jolted by desertion in its ranks in the wake of the Allahabad High Court verdict on rebel Bahujan Samaj Party MLAs, Uttar Pradesh's ruling Samajwadi Party on Thursday paraded 29 ministers, who along with 13 others had defected in 2003, before the media and sought disqualification of those who quit its fold.

On the other hand, BSP supremo Mayawati, upping the ante against Mulayam Singh Yadav government, met the Governor, T V Rajeshwar, and demanded its dismissal following the High Court judgment derecognising the split in her party.

The 29 ministers, who are among the 40 BSP MLAs who had quit the party and later joined SP, were presented before the media by SP State general secretary and PWD Minister Shivpal Singh Yadav at the Chief Minister's official residence here.

Two of the 40 MLAs who joined SP in 2003 were disqualified by the court earlier while five including two ministers have returned to the parent party.

Mr. S. S. Yadav claimed that the remaining 33 BSP rebel MLAs were with the government. Asked about the absence of 4 MLAs, he said three Ministers -- Nawab Kazim Ali, Kutubuddin Ansari and Virendra Bundela -- could not make it owing to personal commitments while Amar Mani Tripathi was in jail.

Using carrot and stick in its strategy, Mr. Yadav claimed that SP was in touch with the five breakaway MLAs, who had met the Governor and returned to BSP, and was persuading them to come back. However, he warned that action under the anti-defection law could be taken against those leaving Samajwadi Party.

The SP also petitioned the Speaker seeking disqualification of the five BSP rebel MLAs, Deputy Leader in the Assembly Ambika Chaudhary told reporters here.

Another MLA quits

Another BSP rebel MLA Ram Kishan, Chairman of Uttar Pradesh Development System Corporation with ministerial rank, resigned saying that he had ``no moral right'' to continue in the post after the Allahabad High Court judgment.

Mr. Ram Kishan, who met the Governor, said in his letter that after the High Court decision, he had no moral right to continue in his post and therefore he was resigning. On Wednesday, three Ministers had resigned from the Mulayam Ministry.

`Unconstitutional'

Meanwhile, Bahujan Samaj Party supremo and former Chief Minister Mayawati asserted that the Mulayam Government was running on ``unconstitutional'' grounds following the judgment.

Ms Mayawati, along with senior party leaders, met the Governor for over 45 minutes and handed him a memorandum, demanding the sacking of the Government.

Quoting the verdict, Ms Mayawati said the State Government was in a minority and had no right to continue in office. The former Chief Minister also demanded the immediate resignation of the MLAs and chairmen of various boards who form part of the BSP rebel group. ``After the judgement, they are members of the BSP. Hence they have no right to continue as ministers or board chairmen in the SP government.''

Earlier in the day, she told reporters that the Speaker's statement on Wednesday that the High Court had recognised the Loktantrik Bahujan Dal (LBD) and his later announcement without hearing the BSP was against the court ruling.

Announcing that BSP would move the court against Speaker Mata Prasad Pandey's role in the case, Ms Mayawati said that it was gross misuse of power by the Speaker, only to save the ``undemocratic'' Mulayam Singh Yadav Government through ``illegal means.''

``It is unfortunate that the Speaker has misled the media and even misquoted the judgment for his vested interest,'' she claimed.

Appealing to all political parties to shed their vested interests and join the BSP in its tirade against the Samajwadi-Party led government, Ms Mayawati said the situation in the state was like it was between June 1 and 3, 1995, when Mr Yadav broke all constitutional norms to remain in power.

``We will wait for five days before announcing our future course of action against the State Government as BSP is eagerly eyeing on the action to be taken by the Governor and the Centre against the Government,'' the former UP CM maintained. - UNI, PTI

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