In LS, Cong doesn146;t let down SP

The Congress today joined the Samajwadi Party and the Left in demanding that the Uttar Pradesh Governor convene a special session of the sta...

The Congress today joined the Samajwadi Party and the Left in demanding that the Uttar Pradesh Governor convene a special session of the state Assembly to test the strength of the Mayawati government but did not spell out why it hadn8217;t backed a SP-led government earlier.

Mayawati also came under attack from the Samata Party, a NDA member, for the manner in which her government was functioning. The Samata too demanded that the state Assembly be convened to test whether the Mayawati-led coalition still enjoyed majority in the House.

Doors open for rebel UP legislators to return,
says Lalji Tandon

Lucknow: The BJP today said its doors were open for the return of 10 MLAs whose disqualification the party has sought for proposing the Rajya Sabha candidature of arms dealer Suresh Nanda from Uttar Pradesh even as it described as 8216;8216;frivolous8217;8217; the objections raised by the rebel legislators to the bid for cancellation of their membership of the state Assembly.
BJP legislature party leader Lalji Tandon, who handed over to the Speaker, the party8217;s reply on the objections raised by the rebel MLAs on the petition of disqualification against them, told reporters that 8216;8216;the party wants to resolve the crisis amicably8221;. 8220;We have kept our doors open for the rebels.8217;8217;
BSP also filed its reply to the objections raised by its MLA Jai Prakash Yadav on the party8217;s petition to disqualify him under the anti-defection law. The Speaker has ordered that hearing on the merit of the disqualification petition and objections raised on it would be held on November 30. The legislators have raised objections saying that the disqualification petitions were not maintainable as the petitions did not have proper affidavits. 8212;PTI

Participating in a Lok Sabha discussion initiated by him, SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav demanded the removal of Governor Vishnu Kant Shastri and said the state was under an 8216;8216;undeclared Emergency8217;8217;. Shriprakash Jaiswal of the Congress had a swipe at the SP when he said the decline of UP began in 1989, the year Mulayam Singh first became chief minister of the state.

Claiming that the UP government had been reduced to a minority, he said ruling coalition MLAs who had revolted were now being called criminals. Turning towards the BSP and BJP benches, Jaiswal said, 8216;8216;Weren8217;t they with you all these years? Didn8217;t you give them tickets?8217;8217;

Earlier, opening the debate, Mulayam demanded that a Parliament delegation be sent to assess the situation in the state. Attacking the Governor for becoming 8216;8216;the custodian8217;8217; of the Mayawati government, he said the SP, at the Centre8217;s behest, was denied the chance to form the government though it had emerged as the single largest party in the elections.

Turning to Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani, Mulayam said the situation in Uttar Pradesh was deteriorating rapidly and it would soon become 8216;8216;more backward than Bihar and you will be responsible.8217;8217; Advani will reply to the discussion on Thursday.

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Lamenting that 8216;8216;political ethos has reached its nadir8217;8217; and 8216;8216;opportunistic alliances8217;8217; were the order of the day, Somnath Chatterjee of the CPM reminded Advani that he himself had confessed party ideology was of little relevance in a coalition. The defence for the Mayawati government came from Rashid Alvi of the BSP, Minister of State for Law, Ravi Shankar Prasad. 8216;8216;Why doesn8217;t the Congress support the SP,8217;8217; Alvi shot back.

Prasad read out relevant paragraphs from the SC verdict in the Bommai case to reject the Opposition claim that the Governor was ignoring the verdict.