Samajwadi Party dares Centre to dismiss UP govt

LUCKNOW: The Samajwadi Party on Saturday dared the Centre to impose President's rule in Uttar Pradesh, announcing that it would go in for the legal option if the government was dismissed.

''The SP will be forced to take the legal option if dismissed through unconstitutional means as being forced by the Opposition parties by wrong interpretation of the Supreme Court judgement over disqualification of 13 legislators,'' said former advocate general of the state and SP Rajya Sabha member Virendra Bhatia.

At a press conference here, he claimed that there was no legal sanctity for imposing President's rule in the state in view of the SC ruling.'' When the government is enjoying a majority in the assembly, how can a democratically elected government be dismissed,'' he said.

''The SP will certainly knock on the doors of the judiciary and go to the people's court, if the Centre tries to use Article 356 of the Constitution in UP at this juncture,'' he said.
 
Demanding the immediate resignation of local BJP president Keshri Nath Tripathi after the SC verdict, he said the apex court had reprimanded the judgement of Tripathi, who was the Speaker at that time to approve the split and merger. ''He has no moral to continue his political career after the SC ruling,'' Bhatia said.