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By-poll results have vindicated Govt. stand: Mayawati

LUCKNOW MARCH 2. The Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, Mayawati, said today that the by-election results vindicated her Government's action against the jailed independent MLA, Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiyya.

Both Gauriganj and Haidergarh could have gone to the ruling coalition had the alliance partners, the BSP and the BJP, fought the elections together, she added.

At a press conference here, Ms. Mayawati, said the BSP candidate, Jang Bahadur's victory from Gauriganj proved that the Thakur community supported her party and the Government's action against criminal elements like Raja Bhaiyya and did not subscribe to the "false propaganda of the Congress and the Samjawadi parties that her party was against the Thakurs".

The BJP central leadership had wanted the Gauriganj and Haidergarh seats to be contested by the BSP and the BJP respectively, but since the State leaders did not agree to the idea, a "friendly contest" was resorted to at both the constituencies. It did not, she said, send a good signal among the people but would in no way impair the functioning of the State Government.

In Haidergarh, though her party stood second after the SP, which won the seat, its vote share had increased manifold. "The SP wrested the seat from the BJP but its vote share has decreased by about 5,000 votes. On the other hand, the BSP, which got only 8000 votes in the 2002 Assembly polls, received 36,533 votes this time, which was a great achievement," Ms. Mayawati said.

The Samajwadi Party president, Mulayam Singh Yadav, said his party's win in Haidergarh reflected an endorsement by the voters of the SP's stand against the "opportunist" ruling coalition.

Talking to presspersons in Meherban Singh Ka Purwa village near Kanpur, Mr. Yadav, said his party achieved the feat despite the alleged efforts by the State Government to defeat his party by "unfair means".

The Leader of the Opposition, Mohammad Azam Khan, would take a decision on the course of action in consultation the with the Rashtriya Kranti Party chief, Kalyan Singh, and other allies on the issue of the proposed no-confidence motion against the Assembly Speaker, Keshri Nath Tripathi.

The party general secretary, Amar Singh, reiterated that Ms. Mayawati was using the Prevention of Terrorism Act as a "tool" against political adversaries.

BJP action plan

The State BJP president, Vinay Katiyar, without mentioning Ayodhya or even the Ram temple, said an action plan was being prepared on the lines of the 1991 movement to bring the party to the forefront.

Addressing the executive members of the party's panchayat raj unit here, he said the strategy to revive the party and attract the electorate would be announced in the March 8-9 executive meeting of the State unit. — UNI

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