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The Congress has heightened the pitch for the ruling coalition in Uttar Pradesh by extending support to a candidate put up by Bharatiya Janata Party dissidents for a by-election to the state legislative council.
The dissidents claim that Chief Minister Mayawati no longer enjoys the support of the majority of the MLAs and want her to prove her majority on the floor of the assembly.
Aware of the pitfalls, the ruling coalition, comprising the Bahujan Samaj Party, BJP and the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), is doing everything it can to avoid such a trial.
The dissidents had gone so far as to try and embarrass the state government by putting up arms dealer Suresh Nanda as their candidate during the recently concluded Rajya Sabha polls.
Nanda's presence would have ensured a contest, which would have revealed the real strength of the ruling coalition in the 403-member state assembly.
However, the ruling coalition was let off the hook when Nanda withdrew from the fray under controversial circumstances.
Putting the setback behind them, the BJP dissidents and some independent MLAs, who have withdraws their support to Mayawati, are making a fresh bid to embarrass the state government during the Vidhan Parishad (state legislative council or upper house) by-election on November 19.
They have fielded Yashwant Singh against Munna Singh (RLD), the joint candidate of the ruling coalition.
A former minister in the Rajnath Singh government, Yashwant Singh lost the last assembly election, but is believed to have emerged as the candidate of the dissidents on the strength of his money and muscle power.
The Samajwadi Party, which has 142 MLAs, is believed to have extended support to Yashwant Singh.
But it was the decision of state Congress president Arun Kumar Singh 'Munna' to extend support to Yashwant Singh that has caused a flutter in the ruling coalition.
Though the Congress has only 25 MLAs and has been reluctant to back the SP's efforts to topple the government, its decision may well tilt the scales against the ruling coalition in the by-election.
Criticising the BJP leadership for trying to disqualify ten dissident MLAs, the Congress chief said it was 'being done, in collusion with the assembly speaker, only to ensure the victory of the ruling coalition's nominee in the Vidhan Parishad election'.
Citing the old saying 'as you sow, so shall you reap', he pointed out that 'it was the BJP that set off the unhealthy competition for power by effecting defections in other parties'.
"Today it is divine retribution that the party is witnessing a revolt by its own MLAs," he said.
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