Congress to initiate disciplinary action against UP leader

The Congress leadership will initiate disciplinary action against the rebel Congress Legislature Party leader in UP, Naresh Agarwal if he does not retract his election as CLP chief. The party claimed on Wednesday that Pramod Tiwari continues to be the CLP leader in the state.

Congress spokesman V N Gadgil declared Tuesday's purported CLP meeting which ejected Tiwari and elected Agarwal as its leader as "totally unconstitutional, null and void." The leadership, he added, is not aware of any such meeting.

The party issued a three line whip asking its members in the Lok Sabha to be present in the House on Thursday when the Bharatiya Janata Party-sponsored motion seeking the recall of UP Governor Romesh Bhandari comes up for voting.

''We have asked our members to defeat the BJP motion," Gadgil said.

He refuted reports that the UP unit of the Congress had split and said state party chief Jitendra Prasada had asked Agarwal to withdraw what he had done.

Agarwal, however, rejected Prasada's suggestion that he resign from the post.

The legislators, he said oin Wednesday, had elected him as their leader and if the party leadership felt there was any technical flaw in the procedures, it could send an observer for a re-election.

Asked whether his continuance in the post would not amount to a violation of party discipline, Agarwal said he would follow the Congress leadership's directives. ''It will not be easy for the party leadership to ignore the feelings of the legislators,'' he added.

Agarwal also denied that Congress legislators were conspiring to form a government in UP with the BJP's support. ''Congressmen," he declared, "would neither support the BJP nor take its support."