“We have asked leaders of both the parties to proceed to the Raj Bhavan, as calling a meeting of the parliamentary board at such short notice is not possible,” he told the media. 

Mr Singh was in Lucknow to preside over the inaugural session of the two day state executive meet of the party.
Its strength has been reduced to 50 in the Legislative Assembly.

The party’s state unit has been ripped by dissension, more so since Ramapati Ram Tripathi was installed party chief earlier this year.

It’s an appointment that has irked many senior state leaders.  But Mr Tripathi reasoned that the task of strengthening the party organisation had little to do with electoral success.

The former UP chief minister also called upon party workers to ensure that the sale of the Hindi version of Periyar Ramaswamy Naicker’s The Ramayana: A True Reading was not permitted within the state’s boundaries. He asked them to burn copies of the book and “go to any extent to stop its distribution,” as no body had the right to hurt the sentiments of anyone in a democracy.

Singh also appealed to his party workers to join the Ramar Sethu agitation being led by the Ram Sethu Raksha Manch.

The time had come for the party to pick on every small issue to establish a direct connection with the people.
He said that the public  had witnessed the functioning of both the BSP and SP. Both worked with vendetta and remained busy with transfers, unconcerned with development.

He also spoke of the failure of the UPA government on the nuclear deal.

“Had they spent more time addressing our concerns and less time  running scared of the Left, the deal could have been sealed,”  he maintained.