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BSP to challenge speaker's ruling in Allahabad high court

Bahujan Samaj Party chief Kanshi Ram today described as ''unfair and motivated'', Uttar Pradesh speaker Kesri Nath Tripathi's ruling dismissing the BSP's petition seeking disqualification of 12 party MLAs for allegedly violating the party whip and voting in favour of the Kalyan Singh government on October 21. He also said his party would challenge the ruling in court.

''The speaker could go to any length to serve the interests of the BJP,'' Kanshi Ram said, and added that the party would challenge the speaker's verdict in the Allahabad high court.

''If Mayawati (the BSP leader in the assembly) could not issue the whip, then who else could do so,'' Kanshi Ram asked while commenting on the speaker's observation that Mayawati had failed to substantiate her claim that she was empowered to issue the whip as laid down in the party constitution.

The BSP would also fight a political battle to expose the BJP's ''shady deals''. The BJP, he said, had indulged in exercises to cobble together the requisite number of MLAs to prop up its Uttar Pradesh government.

The ruling on the petitions filed by Mayawati and R K Chaudhary came yesterday, after being reserved earlier by the speaker.

The BSP leader said party leader Arif Mohammad Khan would bring about a privilege motion in the Lok Sabha on what had happened in the UP assembly.

Referring to the Central Bureau of Investigation case against Mayawati in the floating pumps deal, Kanshi Ram said she was ready to face the case and would not seek anticipatory bail ''to escape arrest''.

UNI

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