BSP, SP MLCS RESIGN, MAKE WAY FOR YOGI

Two legislators from the Samajwadi Party and one from the Bahujan Samaj Party resigned from the Uttar Pradesh legislative council on Saturday, virtually clearing the path for chief minister Yogi Adityanath to get a spot in the legislature without having to contest elections.

Adityanath, from the Bharatiya Janata Party, and four of his colleagues are currently not members of the Uttar Pradesh assembly. They have two months to secure a membership of the House, which became easier on Saturday with the vacancies in the Vidhan Parishad.

In a bicameral structure such as UP’s, members to the upper house can be elected or nominated by the lower house where the Adityanath’s BJP enjoys a brute majority.

The members of legislative council (MLCs) who quit were Bukkal Nawab and Yashwant Singh from the SP and Thakur Jaiveer Singh from the BSP. The resignations coinciding with the visit of BJP chief Amit Shah to state capital Lucknow.

SP’s leader and former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav hit out at the BJP, accusing it of political corruption.

“First they did it in Bihar, then broke the Congress in Gujarat, and now they have lured our MLCs,” Akhilesh said on the sidelines of a private function that he attended on Saturday.

Yadav accused Adityanath’s party of not having the courage to face the voters.

In a statement, BSP president Mayawati said the BJP’s “greed for power has turned into lust for power”.