Parties get ready for a free-for-all in Uttar Pradesh

UTTAR PRADESH witnessed a string of dramatic developments on Tuesday after the Allahabad High Court quashed the then Speaker?s decision in 2003, recognising the merger of a breakaway group of 40 BSP MLAs with the ruling Samajwadi Party.

UTTAR PRADESH witnessed a string of dramatic developments on Tuesday after the Allahabad High Court quashed the then Speaker’s decision in 2003, recognising the merger of a breakaway group of 40 BSP MLAs with the ruling Samajwadi Party. The court remanded the issue of the rebels’ disqualification back to the Speaker.

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The court also quashed the order of the present Speaker, Mata Prasad Pandey, rejecting the BSP’s petition seeking disqualification of 13 party rebels.

Even as the ramifications of the order were being discussed, Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav won a hurriedly moved trust motion in the Assembly — with support of the rebel BSP MLAs. The BJP and BSP MLAs staged a walkout, while the Congress abstained.

But that was not the end of problems for the CM. BSP chief Mayawati told reporters that she would welcome back the rebel MLAs to the party fold. She claimed that soon after the trust motion, the rebel MLAs told her that they vote for Mulayam “in confusion”.

In the evening, the Congress questioned the validity of the trust motion and demanded Mulayam’s resignation.