Close on the heels of Congress president Sonia Gandhi's charge that free and fair assembly elections were not possible under the present dispensation in Uttar Pradesh, Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav dared her to dismiss his government.
He has summoned a special meeting of the state party office-bearers to formulate the party's strategy should such an eventuality arose.
"Jyada himakat na karen Congress Adyaksha (Congress President should not indulge in any misadeventure)," a visibly angry Yadav said after inaugurating a new Haj House in Lucknow on Monday.
Under attack from various quarters on the alleged poor law and order situation and large-scale rigging in the recent civic body elections, the Chief Minister dared the Centre to dismiss his government.
"Agar himmat hai to barkhast kar ke dikhao..Hum sangharsh karne ke liye taiyar hain (If you have got the courage, dismiss our government...We are ready to fight)," he said.
The chief minister said that his party was born out of the struggles and was ready to take to streets to oppose if its government was dismissed. Referring to the allegations on the poor law and order situation in the state, he asked the Centre to make a comparison between Uttar Pradesh and Congress-ruled places like Delhi and Mumbai.
The statement of the Congress president was 'regrettable' but 'he accepts the challenge,' the Samajwadi Party leader said. Gandhi had, during the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit in New Delhi last week, said people of Uttar Pradesh do not believe free and fair assembly elections will be possible under the Mulayam Singh Yadav-led regime.
Yadav said a special meeting of the state party office-bearers will be held in Lucknow on November 25 where the party will chalk out its next strategy. "The people of the state will teach a lesson to those conspiring to dismiss the state government," Yadav said.
He said the Congress, which had suffered a severe setback owing to the movement by Jaiprakash Narayan in the 80s, was yet to 'come out of the shock.'