JOIN USThe Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Samajwadi Party (SP), which together have 136 legislators in the 403-member House, want to scuttle the state government’s plan to get resolution to this effect adopted by the House and send the same to the Centre for consideration, sources said. Major political parties have termed the Cabinet's decision to divide the poll-bound state “a political stunt” aimed at the coming Assembly elections.
The Congress said the proposal of division was a sensitive issue and any decision should be taken only after wide-ranging consultations. The party has 20 MLAs.
The reasons being advanced for moving the motion included the “prevailing lawlessness” in the state and the failure of the state government on all fronts.“We are discussing moving a no-confidence motion against the government,” senior BJP leader Kalraj Mishra said on Wednesday though he refused to elaborate further. Sources in the SP also confided that the party may not be averse to such a move.
“It is better to put the government on notice rather to be seen voting against the resolution proposing division of the state into smaller states,” a leader said.
The SP has already expressed its opposition to any plan to divide the state. According to sources, the opposition is banking on the “rebels” within the Bahujan Samaj Party.
“There are a large number of BSP legislators who have been denied re-nomination by the party and they may swell our rank in the eleventh hour,” an SP leader said.
As many as 12 BSP legislators have already been suspended from the party while six MLAs, including four from the BSP and two from the SP, have been disqualified under the anti-defection law. The BSP had 221 MLAs, but its current strength has been reduced to 205.
The BSP could, however, draw satisfaction from the fact that Rashtriya Lok Dal, which has 10 MLAs, will support the resolution as the party had been advocating division of the state for a long time.