Loktantrik now supports Kalyan
Uttar Pradesh Loktantrik Congress Party
leader Naresh Agarwal on Tuesday said his party will support
Kalyan Singh on the floor of the house during the February 26
trial of strength in the state assembly.
Agrawal told newspersons that he had already expelled
Jagdambika Pal, Puran Singh Bundela and Hari Shankar
Tewari from the LCP for their anti-party activities.
Asked by newspersons about his volte-face, Agrawal, who was
the deputy chief minister in the two-day Pal ministry, said
his alliance with Pal was part of a strategy to bring back
LCP MLAs who had gone along with the latter.
Agarwal said the party proposed to punish two other members,
Shyam Sunder Sharma and Ashok Tyagi, but denied they were being
expelled from the party.
The Loktantrik Congress leader was confident of the Kalyan
Singh government winning a majority on the floor of the house.
The 22-member Loktantrik Congress was reduced to 19
following the expulsion of the three members.
In another significant development, the Loktantrik Congress
minister in the Kalyan Singh cabinet, Vivek Singh, who later took
the oath of office along with Jagdambika Pal, has alleged that the
Uttar Pradesh governor had offered him Rs 1 crore to remain in the
Pal ministry,
Singh said the deal was offered when reports of his
tendering his resignation had reached the governor. The offer was
made in the Raj Bhavan itself in the presence of Pramod Tiwari,
leader of Congress Legislature Party in Uttar Pradesh, he said.
Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Kalyan Singh
has welcomed the Supreme Court's order for testing the majority of his
government on the floor of the Vidhan Sabha on February 26.
"'I will definitely prove the majority of my government on
February 26," he asserted, while talking to newspersons in Lucknow.
A jubiliant Singh, however, would not divulge the number of
legislators whose support he enjoyed.
"Wait for February 26 and you will know everything," was all that
he would say in reply to a volley of questions in this regard.
He, however, claimed that there was a possibility of an increase
in the support to his government in the Vidhan Sabha. He said he
expected that the number of legislators voting in favour of his
government will surpass the figure of 222 secured in the vote of
confidence taken by him in October last.
The chief minister was of the opinion that there should be no
difficulty in convening a session of the Vidhan Sabha on February 26,
because the house had not been
prorogued after a brief session late last month.
Asked whether he still had confidence in the Loktantrik Congress
legislators, who had recently deserted him causing the dismissal of
his government by governor Romesh Bhandari on February 21, he said
"Kalyan Singh has confidence in everybody".
When a reporter wanted to know whether Jagdambika Pal will be
taken back into his cabinet, Singh said he has already tendered his
resignation.
The Uttar Pradesh assembly speaker Kesrinath
Tripathi has said the February 26 trial of strength in the house
will be conducted through an open ballot paper system.
Tripathi told newspersons that as per the Supreme Court's
order, the assembly session will be convened on February 26
and a composite floor test conducted to see which of the two
contending claimants to chief ministership - the BJP's Kalyan Singh or
Loktantrik Party's Jagdambika Pal -- is in a majority in the house.
Tripathi said the floor test would be held through open ballot
papers. The members of the Vidhan Sabha would be given ballot papers
constituency-wise and would mark their preference either for
Kalyan Singh or Jagdambika Pal.
In reply to a question, Tripathi said the decision on the
disqualification of 11 Bahujan Samaj Party MLAs had been
deferred as the apex court had directed that status quo be
maintained till the floor test was held.
The speaker said all efforts would be made for a peaceful and
orderly conduct of the vote of confidence on February 26.
Elections '98
Tell us what you think of this report
|