Maya maths conjures seven more

On the eve of the crucial Budget session of the state Assembly beginning tomorrow, Chief Minister Mayawati today re-demonstrated her poachin...

On the eve of the crucial Budget session of the state Assembly beginning tomorrow, Chief Minister Mayawati today re-demonstrated her poaching skills when seven Independent legislators gave a letter of support in favour of her government to the Speaker this evening and requested him to allow them to sit on treasury benches during the session.

Though a number of Independents have been pledging support to her government individually, this is for the first time that a group of seven among them has emerged to announce collective support to the government. Mayawati couldn8217;t be happier as she is likely to face a no-confidence motion during the Budget session. A similar motion is already admitted against Speaker Kesari Nath Tripathi, to be taken up on February 4.

In another victory for the CM, the seven who pledged support to her include at least two legislators who had backed Raghuraj Pratap Singh a.k.a. Raja Bhaiyya when he led a rebellion against her. They were among the MLAs who had given a letter withdrawing support to her government to the Governor in November.

8216;8216;We already supported the government, but now we have collectively demanded that we should be allowed to sit on treasury benches,8217;8217; said Vijay Singh, who seems to have emerged as the new leader of Independent MLAs, a status earlier enjoyed by the jailed Raja Bhaiyya.

The other MLAs who today signed in support for Mayawati are Hoshiyar Singh, Jitendra Kumar Jaiswal, Mahesh Trivedi, Devendra Nagpal, Mithilesh Kumar and Amar Singh Yadav.

With nearly seven legislators in jails on different charges and unlikely to get the permission of the court to attend the session to vote against her government, and three more MLAs on the run, Mayawati seems comfortably ensconced against any no-confidence vote. She doesn8217;t even need the support of the 10 rebel BJP MLAs who have been keeping everyone guessing on how they8217;ll vote.

But Mayawati has worked to get here. Beginning with the split in the Congress earlier this month, and the induction of seven members of this group into the BSP and later the Cabinet, Mayawati had started securing her position. Now reports say even legislators forced to go on the run because of fresh charges against them are calling in pledging support.

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Meanwhile, the Speaker has denied that there would be frisking of legislators before they enter the House during the session, amid fears of violence, and that they would not be allowed to take in their briefcases.

8216;8216;There is no special security arrangement for the session. It will be like it had been in previous Assembly sessions. I never said that the legislators will have to undergo frisking8230;I had repeatedly clarified that if leaders of Opposition parties give suggestions to this effect, I would not have nay objection,8217;8217; Tripathi insisted.

Mayawati had complained in an official communique that Opposition groups were not attending all-party meetings called prior to any session and that they could indulge in violence to create trouble. 8216;8216;My government is against violence8230;Those found indulging in violent activities in or outside the House will be dealt with an iron hand,8217;8217; she had warned.