Two Samajwadi Party (SP) and a BSP member of the Uttar Pradesh legislative council on Saturday resigned from the house to what the sources said ''pave'' the way for the BJP ministers, who were not members of either of the houses, to get elected to the council.
While the SP and BSP accused the BJP of ''luring'' their MLCs with "money power'', the latter rubbished the charges and said it had nothing to do with the resignations.
SP MLCs, Bukkal Nawab and Yashwant Singh, who was a close confidante of controversial independent legislator Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiya, and BSP MLC Thakur Jaiveer Singh resigned from the house amid speculations that they might soon join the saffron party.
SP supremo Akhilesh Yadav termed the resignations as an example of ''political corruption''. ''After Bihar, the BJP intends to resort to political corruption in UP also,'' he said.
BSP supremo Mayawati lashed out against the BJP and said that the latter could go to any extent for power. ''BJP is a danger to democracy,'' she said.
According to the sources, the resignations could ultimately pave the way for some BJP ministers, who were not members of either of the houses, to get elected to council within the stipulated period.
Currently, five BJP ministers, including UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath and the two deputy chief ministers Dinesh Sharma and Keshav Prasad Maurya, are neither members of the Vidhan Sabha nor the council.
Sources said that Sharma and two other ministers, including Mohsin Raza and Swatantra Dev Singh, were likely to opt for council rather than contesting assembly by-polls. It was not yet clear if Adityanath and Maurya would also take the council route or contest the assembly polls.
Bukkal Nawab, who is considered close to SP patron Mulayam Singh Yadav, claimed that some more SP MLCs could resign in the next few days. He, however, did not elaborate.