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Eight independent MLAs withdraw support to Mayawati govt

Sharat Pradhan in Lucknow

For the first time in its five-and-half month-old existence, the Mayawati government in Uttar Pradesh was in for a jolt on Friday night when eight independent Members of Legislative Assembly announced withdrawal of their support to the Bahujan Samaj Party-Bharatiya Janata Party coalition.

The pull out by these independents has left the BSP-BJP coalition in a precarious condition with a razor-thin majority in the 403-member assembly.

The letter declaring the withdrawal of support was handed over to Governor Vishnukant Shastri at Raj Bhavan in Lucknow around 2230 IST.

Durga Prasad Misra, Jitendra Jaiswal, Ram Nath Saroj, Kaushal Kishore, Raja Ram Pandey, Dhananjay Singh, R K Chaudhary and Raja Bhaiya signed it.

"Three other independent are with us in this mission, but due to personal reasons they could not turn up right now," leader of the group, Raja Bhaiya, told journalists shortly after handing over the letter.

"The governor has taken note of our withdrawal and assured us to look into it," he said. He said the governor told them that if necessary he would summon a special session of the state assembly after assessing the situation.

Shastri, however, did not prefer to make any statement.

The decision of these independents to withdraw support was taken at the residence of Raghuraj Pratap Singh, better known as Raja Bhaiya, the controversial independent MLA from Kunda who had a thrown a dinner party. Raja Bhaiya has been heading a band of 11 of the 16 independents in the house. He was also a minister in successive BJP regimes since 1997.

Asked if he was prompted by the Samajwadi Party to topple the Mayawati government, he shot back: "There is no need for anyone to topple the government. It is bound to go on its own and its days are numbered."

He denied that their estrangement with Mayawati was on account of being denied a berth in the Cabinet. "Neither me nor any other independent MLA has urged the chief minister to include us in the ministry," he said. "The issue is not to get a Cabinet berth. It is the intolerable humiliation that one is subjected to under a virtually fascist Mayawati regime."

"Would you believe that we [independents] have been trying to seek an appointment with her for the past three months, but have been denied an audience. Then what is the point in supporting such a government?" he asked.

When a journalist sought to know if some disgruntled BJP members too were going to join hands with the independents, he said, "Well, the BJP rebels are equally chagrined, but are fighting their own battle."

Lalji Tandon, the senior BJP minister and a close confidant of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Chief Minister Mayawati, maintained, "The government remains in a comfortable majority."

Giving out the ruling alliance tally, he said, "Our count goes as follows: BJP-88; BSP-99; Rashtriya Lok Dal-14; Janata Dal-U-2; Loktantrik Congress Party-3 and Independents-10, reaching a total of 216. That is well beyond the simple majority at 203."

What Tandon chose to overlook was that eight of the 16 independents have revolted, while one RLD member has been expelled by its leader Ajit Singh, provoking rebellion by at least four others RLD members.

The Samajwadi Party with 142 seats is hoping for support from the Congress party [25 MLAs] in roping in the disgruntled independents to form its own government.

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