Resignations part of BJP plan to rattle opposition
LIKELY SCENARIO With more MLCs expected to quit, the number of vacancies in legislative council could grow.
LUCKNOW: Resignation sbyS am ajwadiP art y and Bahujan Samaj Party MLCs are seen as part of BJP chief Amit Shah’s plan to create confusion in the opposition ranks and more are expected over the next couple of days.
Besides, the resignations have virtually ensured plain-sailing for chief minister Yogi Adityanath, his two deputies Keshav Prasad Maurya and Dinesh Sharma and two ministers in meeting the constitutional requirement of becoming members of UP assembly by September 19.
Angered by the breakup of the RJD-JD (U) alliance in Bihar, Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Lalu Prasad Yadav is working hard to bring the SP and the BSP together in UP as part of another attempt to raise a grand alliance to stop the BJP, first in by-polls to two Lok Sabha seats and later in 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
“After the successful execution of its strategy in Bihar, the BJP is now looking to UP to not just puncture opposition unity talks but creating confusion in their ranks. By engineering these resignations, the Bharatiya Janata Party strategists are virtually suggesting that they were confident of their win in by-polls besides thwarting opposition unity bid in UP too,” said Athar Siddiqui of the Centre of Objective Research and Development.
Unlike Adityanath, a five-term Gorakhpur MP and deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, who won the Phulpur Lok Sabha seat for the first time for the BJP in 2014, deputy chief minister Dinesh Sharma and ministers Swatantra Dev Singh and Mohsin Raza have never contested before. After Saturday’s resignations there will now be four vacancies in the upper house. Before the resignations, no other vacancy, barring the lone one from Badaun, was expected before September 2018.
That the ‘script’ was written under BJP’s guidance was apparent
BY ENGINEERING THESE RESIGNATIONS, THE BJP STRATEGISTS ARE VIRTUALLY SUGGESTING THAT THEY WERE CONFIDENT OF THEIR WIN IN BYPOLLS BESIDES THWARTING OPPOSITION UNITY BID IN UP TOO
when Yogi ministers Laxmi Narain and Swami Prasad Maurya, along with BJP leader Dayashankar Singh, accompanied BSP MLC Jaivir Singh when he went to submit his resignation to Ramesh Yadav, the legislative council chairman. Even Buqqal Nawab and Yashwant Singh praised the BJP after their resignation as SP MLCs.
With more resignations expected over the next couple of days, the number of vacancies in the legislative council could grow.
A member to the UP assembly (MLA) has to contest a direct election, but election to many seats of the council is determined on the basis of a party’s strength. With 325 members in the 403 member UP assembly, the BJP could comfortably ensure the win of its candidates.
Former UP chief ministers Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati had preferred to become MLCs. A section in the BJP wants Adityanath and deputy chief ministers to become MLCs rather than face a direct election.
“Maya and Akhilesh chose to become members of the upper house rather than face a direct election because they wanted to be free of the responsibility of taking care of their constituencies. If Yogi and Maurya also opt for the upper house, it would mean they were also thinking on similar lines. But, I won’t be surprised if Yogi and Maurya contest elections as the BJP is now known tospring surprises,” said Professor SK Dwivedi, a political analyst.