Bhandari gives Pal three more days, floor test now on Feb 27
Sharat Pradhan in Lucknow
With eight of the 22 Loktantrik Congress Party MLAs refusing to play ball with Chief Minister Jagdambika Pal and sticking by the Bharatiya Janata Party, the political crisis in Uttar Pradesh threatens to linger for a little longer.
Governor Romesh Bhandari has contributed his mite to the situation by conceding Pal's request for five more days to prove his majority on the floor of the assembly. The chief minister will now face the trial of strength in the House on Friday, February 27, instead of February 24, as specified by Bhandari on Saturday.
Those LCP members who were paraded
before mediapersons at the home of state BJP chief Raj Nath
Singh on Sunday evening, included Diwakar Vikram Singh, Amar Mani Tripathi,
Bachcha Pathak, Fateh Bahadur Singh, Dalbir Singh, Vivek Singh,
Satish Sharma and Chaudhary Laxmi Narayan. "We are with Kalyan
Singh," they said in one voice.
Significantly, Vivek Singh was the only one of these who had been
sworn in as a cabinet minister along with Pal on Saturday. His unpredictable
behaviour was clearly visible then itself, when barely two
hours after he had declared total allegiance to Kalyan Singh he agreed
to get sworn in as a minister.
Claimed Raj Nath Singh,
"You will find this number increasing; several other are already
in touch with us and have assured us of their support." Diwakar
Vikram Singh accused Pal of "fraudulently including the names
of all 22 LCP MLAs in his list."
Claimed ousted chief minister Kalyan Singh, "I had specifically
told the governor on Saturday that the list of 221 MLAs handed over
to him by Jagdambika Pal in his support, was false." And
went on to add, "I have been proved right."
On the other hand, more than Pal himself, Congress leader Pramod
Tiwari went about flaunting a list of 238 MLAs pledging support
to the new government in a 425-member UP assembly.
While political machinations were on in full swing in Lucknow,
polling continued smoothly in the remaining 33 parliamentary constituencies
on the second and final round on Sunday. Barring a minor scuffle in
Sambhal (from where Mulayam Singh Yadav is contesting), no untoward
incident was reported from any corner of the sprawling area that
went to the polls.
"We had been very apprehensive and were keeping
our fingers crossed," admitted chief election officer Noor
Mohammad, while attributing the "smooth and peaceful"
conduct of the election to "an alert administration."
The scuffle in Sambhal between a small group of BJP and SP workers
left two men injured. However, according to a senior police official,
"These were only minor injuries and both men had been discharged
by the hospital after first aid."
Contrary to largescale apprehension of violence in the wake of
the dismissal of the Kalyan Singh government, today's polling was by and large peaceful.
However, what surprised all and sundry was the impressive turnout
of voters, going even beyond that during the first phase of polling. Thus, as against 54.5 per cent polling on February 16, Sunday's turnout was around 56 per cent, regarded as all-time high by senior election officials.
But polling in Lucknow remained relatively low at 47 per cent. Not much enthusiasm was visible among voters, which political observers see as a mark of their protest against Saturday's coup. However, others felt, "Lucknow's result was a foregone conclusion and everyone knows that Vajpayee is going to win hands down against film-maker Muzzafar Ali, so how does it matter if we don't vote?" There were also others who did not step out owing to appehension of breach of peace and outbreak of violence.
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