Mulayam govt accuses TV Rajeshwar of acting as ‘Congress agent’
Deepak Gidwani
LUCKNOW: UP is faced with an unprecedented constitutional crisis owing to an unseemly face-off between the Mulayam government and Governor TV Rajeshwar over summoning a meeting of the Vidhan Sabha (Legislative Assembly). The Samajwadi Party (SP) has accused the Governor of acting as a "Congress agent" while opposition parties have lashed out at the SP for making a mockery of the legislature.
Speaker Mata Prasad Pandey has summoned a meeting of the House from January 15. But according to the Governor, the meeting cannot be held as the Assembly had been prorogued at the end of the monsoon session on December 15. The state cabinet had sent the recommendation for prorogation to the Governor on January 3. After the RLD pullout, an emergency cabinet meeting was held late on Tuesday evening. The cabinet then sent a letter to the Governor around 11 pm to withdraw the recommendation.
The Governor, however, refused to oblige. On Wednesday morning, he signed the file accepting the government's advice for prorogation, ending the session formally. But the SP is bent upon reviving the same session, leading to a constitutional crisis of sorts.
State BJP president and former Speaker Kesrinath Tripathi told DNA that the Mulayam government was making a mockery of legislative conventions. "The only option for the SP now is to call a new session which would require the Governor's permission," he said. Since the new session would be held in a new year, it would have to open with the Governor's address to a joint session of the legislature. This is the last thing the SP would want.
Mulayam wants to call the Vidhan Sabha to prove its majority after some members of Ajit Singh's Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) quit the SP-led ruling alliance on Tuesday.
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