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Bansi Lal told to prove majority by July 21

Haryana Governor Mahabir Prasad today directed Chief Minister Bansi Lal to prove his majority on the floor of the assembly by July 21, the second time in 26 days.

The governor's directive follows the withdrawal of support to Bansi Lal's Haryana Vikas Party by the Congress.

The Congress had bailed out the HVP during the previous vote of confidence in the assembly on June 25.

The main opposition Indian National Lok Dal headed by former chief minister Om Prakash Chautala and the Bharatiya Janata Party, Bansi Lal's earlier partner, have been demanding his dismissal in the wake of the Congress withdrawing its support.

Before issuing the directive, Mahabir Prasad consulted constitutional experts, including former Lok Sabha secretary-general Subhash Kashyap, state Advocate General H S Hooda, and legal remembrancer B L Gulati.

The Congress withdrew support to the government because the chief minister failed to fulfil his promise to party president Sonia Gandhi to abide by her wishes.

In its formal letter of withdrawal of support submitted to Governor Prasad on July 16, the Haryana Congress said it had supported Bansi Lal's government to frustrate the formation of an "unprincipled" alternative government by the BJP and INLD.

But Bansi Lal failed to dissolve the assembly and call for a fresh poll in conjunction with the Lok Sabha election as he had promised Gandhi, it said.

The letter delivered by state Congress president Bhupinder Singh Hooda and legislature party acting leader Kartar Devi said the party had severed all ties with the HVP and demanded a fresh election to the assembly since the government had been reduced to a minority.

Bansi Lal had won the earlier confidence motion by 55 votes to 33.

In the 90-member assembly, the HVP has 35 members, including the speaker, the INLD has 22, the Congress 12 and the BJP 11.

Of the 10 independents, one is an associate member of the Congress. One BJP member has no voting right.

The 38-month-old HVP government had assumed office in coalition with the BJP on May 11, 1996.

UNI

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