The Hindu : Moves on to rope in U.P. BJP MLAs

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jun 02, 2003

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Moves on to rope in U.P. BJP MLAs

By Gargi Parsai

NEW DELHI JUNE 1. The four major Opposition parties — the Samajwadi Party, the Congress, the Rashtriya Lok Dal and the Rashtriya Kranti Party — which have joined hands to take on the BSP-BJP Government in Uttar Pradesh are awaiting the Governor, Vishnu Kant Shastri's decision on their demand for dismissal of the State Government after the RLD leader, Ajit Singh, walked out with 14 MLAs.

But this is on record. Off the record, the Samajwadi Party general secretary, Amar Singh, and the Rashtriya Kranti Party president, Kalyan Singh, are working overtime to wean away independents and the erstwhile dissident 20 to 25 BJP MLAs who all but left the party in an earlier attempt. In the 402-member House, the BSP-BJP coalition has 211 members, nine more than the required majority, with one seat vacant.

Senior Opposition leaders admit off the record that the numbers are yet to add up. Some of the MLAs, particularly the vulnerable BJP ones, would rather show their preference on the floor of the House. The strategy therefore, is to impress upon the Governor to either dismiss the Mayawati Government or convene the Assembly and ask the Chief Minister to prove her majority. Ms. Mayawati is on a five-nation tour and is expected to return on June 12.

At the same time, the Opposition plans to bring its battle to Delhi. A section of the Opposition will sit in a dharna before the Rashtrapati Bhavan and seek the President, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam's intervention for the removal of the U.P. Speaker. This is a long shot with the view that in case the BJP splits, the MLAs who come out of the party are given due recognition in the House.

As a senior leader put it, it is political compulsion that has made the four major Opposition parties come together. The Mayawati administration has slapped 200-odd cases against the SP president, Mulayam Singh, Amar Singh and other leaders in several districts. No doubt they got a reprieve against arrests from the High Court, ratified by the Supreme Court, but the Damocles sword continues to hang over them.

For the Congress, the biggest fallout of the Mayawati Government coming to power was the defection of eight MLAs, who joined the BSP. Besides, the party lost Gauriganj seat in the party president, Sonia Gandhi's bastion, Amethi.

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