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Peeved over the denial of an audience with Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee during his 24-hour visit to Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, Bharatiya Janata Party legislators shot off a fax to him on Monday.
The legislators, who were dissatisfied because they did not get a cabinet seat during the recent expansion effected by Chief Minister Mayawati, also formed a group to 'save the BJP'.
The dissidents held a meeting, which was presided over by former state minister Ganga Bhakt Singh, in Lucknow and followed it up with a press conference during which a copy of the fax was handed out.
They reiterated their demand for pulling out all BJP ministers from the coalition, and supporting the Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party from outside.
Singh announced the formation of an 11-member 'BJP Bachao Sanchalan Samiti' and made six legislators in charge of a campaign to be launched in six regions of the state.
The 17-member action group consists of 14 members from the lower house and three from the upper house of the state legislature.
Copies of the fax were also sent to Deputy Prime Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani, Human Resources Development Minister Murli Manohar Joshi and UP BJP chief Vinay Katiyar.
The fax message said: "Of the 30 BJP legislators inducted into the Mayawati cabinet, as many as 17 were those who had crossed over from other political parties and therefore did not belong to the original Sangh Parivar cadre."
The letter alleged "play of money" in the allocation of berths in the cabinet.
The dissidents sought to highlight the "social, caste and regional imbalance" in the selection of the BJP legislators for induction into the ministry.
Those who formed the support base of the BJP were very poorly represented in the cabinet, the letter alleged.
While expressing resentment at the exclusion of senior leaders, the letter referred to the inclusion of Amita Singh "despite her dubious image".
A first-time legislator, Amita is an accused in the murder of her husband, badminton champion Syed Modi.
After the death of Modi, she married Sanjay Singh, a one-time Rajiv Gandhi chum, from the erstwhile royal family of Amethi. Singh later switched loyalties to the BJP and lost miserably to Congress president Sonia Gandhi from the Amethi parliamentary constituency in the last general election.
"Lalloo Singh, a senior BJP MLA representing Ayodhya, had declined to be sworn in as a minister of state, while Amita Singh, a first time MLA, was given independent charge," the letter said.
The legislators also objected to the inclusion of Amar Mani Tripathi as a BSP nominee in the Council of Ministers. "This man was removed from the Rajnath Singh ministry for being allegedly involved in a kidnapping case and his return to the cabinet is bound to sully the image of the government," the letter said.
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