Uttar Pradesh Congress Legislature Party leader Pramod Tiwari today filed a writ petition before Speaker Kesari Nath Tripathi, seeking disqualification of seven MLAs, who had left the party on January 28 and formed a group called Akhil Bharatiya Congress Dal (ABCD). Tiwari said the party has sought the disqualification of Virendra Singh Bundela, Vinod Kumar Yadav, Dinesh Singh, Kameshwar Upadhyay, Jai Narain Tiwari, Kazim Ali and Rajpal Tyagi. The seven, along with expelled CLP member Akhilesh Singh, had formed ABCD on January 28. Charges against 5 BJP dissidents dropped LUCKNOW: UP Speaker Kesari Nath Tripathi today dropped charges against five of the 10 rebel BJP MLAs. The charges were dropped following a request from BJP legislature party leader Lalji Tandon that the party was not interested in further action against Ganga Bux Singh, R.P. Singh, Badshah Singh, Anil Verma and Dayashankar Verma, Tripathi said here. (ENS) While the Speaker had recognised the ABCD as a new political group in the House, the CLP had claimed that seven MLAs out of 23 CLP members did not add up to a one-third to effect a split. But quoting certain Supreme Court judgements, Tripathi had then maintained that Akhilesh, who had been expelled on September 5 last, was also part of the CLP. ‘‘The Speaker’s decision to recognise the group is unconstitutional, illegal and not based on facts,’’ Tiwari alleged. ‘‘It is a clear case of defection,’’ he added. The CLP has, in the petition, urged the Speaker to withdraw his order. The CLP has also raised objections to the Speaker’s refusal to meet the CLP leader for four hours.
