Other States - Uttar Pradesh

Ministers, MLAs quit SP, rejoin BSP

Lucknow: Four MLAs, including two Ministers, resigned from the ruling Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday and rejoined the Bahujan Samaj Party.

The two Ministers -- Jaiveer Singh and Surendra Vikram Singh -- made the announcement at the Raj Bhawan here after submitting their resignation from the Ministry to Governor T V Rajeswar. They later announced that they were rejoining the BSP, which they quit in 2003. They met the Governor, along with BSP Legislature Party leader Swami Prasad Maurya and two other MLAs, Dharam Pal Singh and Ramji Shukla.

While Jaiveer Singh was the Minister of State for Medical Health, Mr Surendra Vikram Singh was the Minister of State for Food and Civil Supplies. Among the two MLAs, Mr Dharam Pal Singh who headed the UP State Poultry and Livestock Corporation also resigned from the government job.

The four are among the 40 rebel BSP MLAs in whose case the Allahabad High Court had passed a verdict on Tuesday setting aside the split in the party in 2003.

Meanwhile, BSP members created a ruckus in the Assembly and stalled the proceedings demanding that the rebel party MLAs be asked to sit in the Opposition benches in the wake of the judgment.

Waving copies of the judgment, they stalled the business for two hours before boycotting the day's proceedings following the Speaker's refusal to entertain their notice in this regard.

BSP members were up on their feet as soon as the House assembled in the morning and demanded that their notice on the matter be taken up immediately. Mr. Maurya claimed that the 40 MLAs had once again become part of the parent party after the court quashed the orders of the Speaker by which he had recognised their outfit and its subsequent merger with the Samajwadi Party.

The Speaker, Mata Prasad Pandey, said he would seek legal opinion on the judgment before giving his ruling on the matter.

Later in the day, an Uttar Pradesh Congress delegation met the Governor demanding appropriate action in view of the court ruling. The delegation led by UPCC president Salman Khurshid, accompanied by Congress Legislature Party leader Pramod Tiwari, met the Governor and requested him to take action. - UNI, PTI

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