LUCKNOW, February 27: Barely 14 hours after he won the crucial composite floor test in the Assembly, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Kalyan Singh today dropped three ministers from his Cabinet including his rival Jagdambika Pal.Loktantrik Congress minister Puran Singh Bundela, who remained with Pal till the last moment and voted in his favour, has also been dropped. The most surprising casualty however was Bharatiya Janata Party minister Raj Rai Singh.Singh had opposed the party's decision to extend support to Maneka Gandhi from Pilibhit. She had publicly aired her grievances against the party leadership for extending support to Maneka as she herself was a contender for the party ticket from the constituency.The immediate provocation came when instead of signing before Kalyan's name in the ballot paper on the floor test yesterday, she made a tick mark. The BJP leaders saw it a deliberate attempt to express her protest. She is the wife of a senior IAS officer Rai Singh.Meanwhile, Minister for Energyand Loktantrik Congress leader Naresh Agarwal today said the conspiracy to destablise the Kalyan government was hatched by the Samajwadi Party, the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Congress in Orcha near Jhansi on February 4 with Uttar Pradesh Governor Romesh Bhandari playing a ``central'' role. Talking to mediapersons, he said leaders of these parties had gathered there in connection with a marriage, which was to be solemnised on Feb 5.Asked whether he knew about the conspiracy, Agarwal said, ``We had some inkling about some disgruntled elements among the ministers belonging to the Loktantrik Congress party but we had decided to sort out the problems by talking to Kalyan after the Lok Sabha elections were over.'' ``Everyone knows that marriage in the Bundela family was slated for February 5, but the Governor had reached there a day in advance to prepare a meticulous plan to dislodge the Kalyan Singh government,'' he said. Bhandari however today described the charges as ``baseless'' and ``far from truth''. ARaj Bhawan spokesman said the Governor had gone to attend a wedding in Bundela family in Lalitpur on February 5 and returned about an hour later. The Governor spent some time in Lalitpur, offered his greetings and left for New Delhi from there, he said. The Governor denied having met any political leader in Lalitpur that day as alleged by Agarwal, he clarified.Meanwhile, former state minister Bundela also denied that the Governor had visited Orcha on February 5 to attend a wedding ceremony in his family. Bundela said the key player in the whole drama was Naresh Agarwal.
