The Hindu : RLD suspends MLA

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Oct 25, 2002

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RLD suspends MLA

By J.P. Shukla

LUCKNOW Oct. 24. In a bid to quell dissidence among its legislators, the Rashtriya Lok Dal has suspended a party MLA, Samar Pal Singh, who had demanded withdrawal of the RLD's support to the Bahujan Samaj Party led-Government in Uttar Pradesh for its "anti-people policies''.

Talking to newspersons here today, the RLD vice-president, Rameshwar Singh, said that Samar Pal Singh had also been issued a notice to explain his conduct in criticising the party Ministers, Kokab Hameed and Anuradha Chaudhary. This amounted to anti-party activity. He has been directed to explain within two weeks why he should not be expelled from the party for his unbecoming conduct.

The suspension letter has been issued under the authority of the party president, Ajit Singh.

Samar Pal Singh had criticised the two Ministers for their failure to support a private member's resolution seeking to create a new Harit Pradesh comprising the western districts of U.P. while the resolution was being debated in the Assembly. He contended that since the RLD had contested the last Assembly elections on the plank of creation of "Harit Pradesh'', the Ministers' failure to support the resolution had damaged the credibility of the party and its leader. He is also said to have been offended at his exclusion from the Mayawati Ministry.

In the BJP camp, a fresh initiative to resolve the problem of dissidence began today with the arrival of the BJP general secretary, Rajnath Singh, at whose residence senior party leaders met to discuss the issue. The involvement of Mr. Rajnath Singh is considered significant from the BJP's point of view as several of the dissident MLAs who have been openly challenging the State party leadership are stated to be cronies of the former Chief Minister.

The State BJP chief, Vinay Katiyar, talking to newspersons later, said the option of taking disciplinary action against the dissidents was still open. He also claimed that some MLAs who had earlier sided with the dissidents had now been weaned away.

In another important development, the Samajwadi Party leader, Amar Singh, today went to a meeting of independent MLAs who have launched a tirade in protest against their exclusion from the Mayawati Ministry, though they had extended their support to her Government.

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