New Up Govt Under Threat As Mlas Return To Bjp Fold

In less than 24 hours of the formation of the Jagdambika Pal government in Uttar Pradesh, it faces the prospect of a collapse. As many as 12 members of the ruling Loktantrik Congress are reported to have returned to the Bharatiya Janata Party.

At a press conference at the residence of state BJP chief Rajnath Singh and attended by former chief minister Kalyan Singh, seven of the Loktantrik Congress members were present. They said another member was inside the residence, but did not come out as he had taken oath as a minister on Saturday.

They further claimed that party president Naresh Agarwal, who was sworn in as the deputy chief minister, and three other ministers are in the process of resigning and returning to the BJP fold. The Loktantrik Congress MLAs present were: Fatah Bahadur, Diwakar, Vikram Singh, Amar Mani Tripathi, Bacchcha Pathal Lakshmi Narain Chaudhri, Dalveer Singh, Satish Sharma.

 

Chief minister Jagdambika Pal spent the day yesterday desperately trying to win back the members of his party. He went from house to house, urging them not to ally with the BJP. Kalyan Singh refused to state the number of legislators supporting him, but reiterated that he enjoyed the majority.

A Loktantrik Congress MLA said: Raat ke andhere main jo sarkar banti hain, woh din ke ujali mein gir jatti hain. (A government that is formed in the darkeness of the night, falls when in daylight). BJP leaders are said to have worked on the rebel MLAs throughout the night.

When journalists were talking to Kalyan Singh, the rebel MLAs were sheltered inside the house under the under the supervision of controversial minister Raghuraj Pratap Singh.

Minister Vivek Singh told Business Standard, that this was no way of bringing about a split. Only a few days back we said that we are totally with the BJP, and had compared Kalyan Singh with Lord Ram. Yeh had darje ka kaminapan hain. Yeh koi tarika nahi (this is petty in the extreme). He said his partymen were in the field asking for votes for the BJP when there was the sudden announcement of the party withdrawing support. There was no meeting on this issue, he said.

Meanwhile, the Samajwadi Party, the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Congress have given a motion of no-confidence against speaker Kesarinath Tripathi, and have demanded another person be appointed to oversee the assembly proceedings on Tuesday, when the new government is to prove its majority.

There was increasing anxiety throughout the day about Sambhal, where Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav is contesting. His brother, Shiv Pal Singh Yadav, was barred from entering the constituency, but was later allowed after the change of government in Lucknow. The BJP has alleged that he indulged in booth-capturing on his brothers behalf.

After the swearing in ceremony on Saturday night, Mulayam Singh Yadav ticked off the state DGP when the latter drew the attention of the governor to the writ in the Allahab high court and the pro-Kalyan Singh government judgement of one judge. Bhandari is said to have governor reported it to Yadav who, in turn, ticked off the DGP: Aap to aise he harte rahte hain, aapne mere bhai ko bhi Sambhal nahin jaane diya (You have always been losing, you did not allow my brother to go to Sambhal).