MLCs’ resignation: CM hinted at it a day before

LUCKNOW The writing was very much there on the wall but hardly could anyone decipher it then. Although desertions of the members of legislative council (MLCs) of the opposition camps began on Saturday, chief minister Yogi Adityanath gave some indications of it a day in advance.

Speaking in the Vidhan Parishad on the last day of the budget session on Friday, the CM flayed the opposition for staging a walkout from the house to boycott his budget speech.

Wishing that a good sense prevailed on the opposition, he said in his speech, “The people wiped them out from the UP assembly, the lower house, because of their sophism and deeds. We pray that we come to see the same kind of situation in the upper house too very soon so that they themselves flee the house.”

He was reacting to former CM Akhilesh Yadav’s controversial quip on China’s might in the upper house (Vidhan Parishad) on Wednesday.

Yadav had suggested in his speech that India must not tangle with China which, according to him, had gained even bigger military might since 1962.

Led by the SP, the opposition parties, including the BSP and the Congress, walked out of the upper house as soon the CM walked in even as Yogi chose to address the house without the opposition.

And within less than 20 hours of Yogi Adityanath’s ‘prophetic’ observation, two MLCs from the Samajwadi Party and one from the Bahujan Samaj Party quit. The move is seen as a beginning of the BJP’s attempt to get a majority in the Vidhan Parishad too.

Sources said the way in which the CM spoke about the possibility of the BJP being in majority in the upper house soon, indicated that the script for the MLCs’ resignation was written quite in advance.

“More MLCs from the opposition camps may desert in the days to come,” said sources.

In the 100-member upper house, the BJP has only 8 members while the SP with 66 members (before the two resignations) is the largest party in the house.

The Bahujan Samaj Party has eight members (before Jaivir Singh’s resignation) and the Congress has only two members.

The people wiped them out from the UP assembly, the lower house, because of their sophism and deeds. We pray that we come to see the same kind of situation in the upper house too very soon so that they themselves flee the house YOGI ADITYANATH, CM UP