UP score: Rebels win round I

It was a bad day at the office for Katiyar, who had to virtually force himself into the meeting of dissident legislators and waited for over an hour before he was allowed in. Most of the dissident legislators walked out the rear door to register their protest at Katiyar’s presence.

And even as Katiyar persuaded ‘BJP Bachao Samiti’ convenor Ganga Bhakt Singh to end the revolt, senior BJP MLC Ramasheesh Rai told reporters that the 28 MLAs and 4 MLCs who had attended the meeting had unanimously decided not to have any truck with the state leadership and would stick to their demand for the resignation of all BJP ministers in UP and outside support to the Mayawati government.

‘‘There will be no negotiations with the state leadership, which is no good. We will attempt again to hold talks with our central leaders and tell them what’s going on here. The legislators are furious that the state leadership had threatened us with show-cause notices and suspension. We feel that the state leadership is deliberately adding fuel to the fire and is working against party interests’’, Rai said.

There was no question, he added, of apologising to anyone since the party leaders had also aired their grievances before the media in the past. ‘‘There cannot be two sets of rules — one for leaders and other for workers.’’

An hour later, Katiyar called reporters at the BJP state headquarters, where he arrived with rebel MLCs Ganga Bhakt Singh and Bharat Tripathi. And though Singh didn’t join Katiyar at the press conference, Tripathi did, to add to the confusion over the rebels’ status.

Katiyar said the demand for outside support to the Mayawati government was beyond the purview of the state leadership. ‘‘If the legislators don’t wish to talk to me I will arrange their meeting with central leaders. We have initiated a dialogue with this group of legislators and will continue to discuss ways to strengthen the party’’, he said.

The dissidents have decided to hold another meeting within the next couple of days but — perhaps wiser after the blanket coverage of today’s meeting — will not disclose the venue. ‘‘The exposure of faces in the electronic media helps the party leadership identify us’’, said a dissident.