Rattled by UP chief minister Mayawati’s proposal to divide the state into four, the BJP has decided to move a no-confidence motion against the government.
The BJP move may help it deflect attention from its studied silence after Mayawati announced her plan on Tuesday. The party is yet to state the stand it would take when Mayawati decides to table the proposal in the assembly.
BJP leader Kalraj Mishra, convener of the party’s election campaign committee in UP, confirmed the no-confidence motion would be moved in the assembly session beginning November 21. This would be the last assembly session before the 2012 polls.
The party knows supporting the BSP move would lead to Mayawati getting all the credit for taking up the cause of smaller states. But opposing the division, while backing the demand for a separate Telangana state, would weaken its stand on smaller states, for which it claims credit.
The BJP strength in the 403-member UP assembly is 48, not enough to cause the BSP (222 members) any discomfort with a no-confidence motion. But, with the Samajwadi Party (89 members), opposing any division of UP, also mulling over a similar move, the BJP is hoping to embarrass the BSP.
Mishra said, “Those who feel the UP division move is a ploy to divert attention from unprecedented corruption and lawlessness under the BSP rule should support us.”