Uttar Pradesh Speaker Sticks To His Guns

Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha speaker Kesri Nath Tirpathi in a statement said that he will not resign from the office of the speaker. This is likely to upset Mayawatis plans and also those of the compromising sections within the Bharatiya Janata Party, which seemed to be preparing for some kind of a patch-up with the BSP on the issue of the power switch in UP.

Mayawati would also like to have a three month extension. The reason for seeking this extension are not entirely clear, but this is one of the demands which the BSP has made to the BJP.

In a statement on Saturday, Tripathi said: I am deeply pained to find that the office of the speaker of the UP legislative assembly has been dragged into the controversy about transfer of power from BSP to Bharatiya Janata Party in the UP coalition government. I have taken a serious note of the reported speech by Chief Minister Mayawati in a public meeting at Almora that the speaker must quit the office before she hands over power to the BJP.

I am not going to allow the office of the speaker to be blackmailed into political bargaining. I categorically sate that I am not going to resign.

He said that he could not allow Parliamentary democracy to be debased: I will not allow the Machivallian politics to destroy the piety and the sanctity of the legislature.

Behind this difference of approach is the assessment of the two sections of the Bharatiya Janata Party on the motives and plans of the BSP.

The hard-line section consisting of people like Kalyan Singh and Kesri Nath Tirpathi and nearly ninety per cent of the cadres and leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party in Uttar Pradesh, feels that Mayawati, having tasted blood does not want to give up power.

This is apparently not acceptable to BJP, except to a very small section which seems to have thrived under Mayawatis six-month rule.

The hard-liners feel that Mayawatis real motive is to keep the BJP guessing about her motives till the last moment and then go to Governor Romesh Bhandari seeking the dissolution of the assembly before the BJP can approach him to withdraw its support. Last time, in October 1995, the BSP had tried the same trick, but was outsmarted by the BJP leaders who approached the Governor first and withdrew support, compelling Mayawati to resignand lose an opportunity to become the caretaker Chief Minister till the elections.