BSP legislators quit en masse

TNN / Feb 25, 2007, 02:25 IST

Text Size

Small
Medium
Large

The ball was set rolling by the BSP when 67 of its legislators resigned en masse and handed over their resignation to the party supremo Mayawati.

LUCKNOW: As February 26, the day fixed for trial of strength, draws near the possibility of Mulayam Singh Yadav being left without an Opposition in the Vidhan Sabha looked strong.
The ball was set rolling by the Bahujan Samaj Party on Saturday when 67 of its legislators resigned en masse and handed over their resignation to the party supremo Mayawati.
In their letters, the legislators said that the polls for the 14th Vidhan Sabha were held in 2002 and results declared on February 25.
The term of the present Vidhan Sabha has ended on February 24, thus making the continuation of the present House illegal.

Kalyan Singh, BJP's chief ministerial candidate for UP, told media persons in New Delhi that his party was also weighing all options, including resignations by all the MLAs.
The party, which is demanding President's rule in the state, will take a decision on the next course of action on Sunday.
On record, the BJP has 83 MLAs of whom 11 are said to have voted for the Mulayam Singh Yadav government in the trust vote last month while five MLAs sided with Mayawati on Saturday.

In an interview given to TOI, BJP president Rajnath Singh had reminded Mulayam of 2001 when the SP leader had asked all his MLAs to resign as the term of the House had ended.
Rajnath was then the chief minister of UP.The Congress party leaders said that they would chalk out their strategy on the morning of February 26, the day Mulayam is to seek a vote of confidence. For starters, they announced launching a public movement against Mulayam government.
The BSP MLAs' decision to resign was also to protest against the Vidhan Sabha speaker Mata Prasad's refusal to concede its demand for issuing a fresh list of MLAs in view of the Supreme Court's verdict against the BSP defectors.
On Friday the party had submitted a formal letter to the speaker's office urging him to revise the Vidhan Sabha members' list before February 26 when the CM is slated to seek the vote of confidence on the floor of the House.
Talking to reporters Mayawati said that in the light of the apex court's ruling on BSP deserters, the Speaker's conduct was "unconstitutional". Mata Prasad Pandey, said Mayawati, behaved like a Samajwadi worker and attended meetings organised by his party.
The BSP chief said that the apex court in its judgment had said that on August 26, 2003, there was no split in the party. The court, thereafter, declared all the 37 MLAs who quit the party disqualified.
In spite of the ruling the Samajwadi Party government was contemplating to seek a vote of confidence in which the disqualified MLAs would be allowed to cast their votes, claimed Mayawati.
The MLAs have said that the present government came into existence because of the ruling given by the then speaker, Keshari Nath Tripathi. She said the Congress and the Rashtriya Lok Dal had given their tacit support in the formation of the government.
Mayawati also announced at the press meet that Amar Singh Yadav, Mahesh Chandra, both independents, Kunwar Fateh Bahadur Singh, Ram Prasad Choudhary, Badshah Singh, Jagdish Mishra, Fagu Chauhan, Om Vati, Kalyan Singh of Kannauj, Sunderlal and Ratan Lal Ahirwar have joined her party.
She welcomed the Election Commission's decision to hold the poll in seven phases and said that the transfer and posting done in the last four months be annulled.

End of Article