NEW DELHI: The political scene in Uttar Pradesh came into sharp focus on Sunday, with Governor T.V. Rajeswar reportedly apprising Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil of the law and order in the State in the morning and a Bharatiya Janata Party delegation calling on President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam in the evening.

The five-year life of the present Assembly is virtually over — elections are due in two to three months — but political opponents of the ruling Samajwadi Party (SP) that include the Congress and the BJP have stepped up their demand that the Mulayam Singh Yadav Government be dismissed and the State placed under President's rule.

Though there was no word from the Governor on what transpired at his half-an-hour meeting with Mr. Patil, and officials tried to dismiss it as routine, it is seen to be significant, coming as it did immediately after the desecration of a statue of B.R. Ambedkar in Kanpur that sparked strong and violent protests by Dalits in Maharashtra.

Even a week earlier, the dismissal demand was made after the kidnapping of a three-year-old boy from Noida hit the headlines.

And a month earlier, the SP's political opponents had alleged rigging and use of muscle power in the local body polls.

The BJP delegation, led by party's deputy leader in the Rajya Sabha Sushma Swaraj, met the President and demanded that the Mulayam Singh Yadav Government be dismissed and President's Rule imposed to ensure free and fair polls.

Memorandum

The six-page, 16-point memorandum presented to Mr. Kalam alleged that the Government was not being run according to the Constitution.

It said people were not safe; roughly 20,000 murders, abductions, rape and other heinous crimes had taken place under the SP Government; legislators Krishnand Rai and Raju Pal were murdered in broad daylight; BJP leader Neeraj Mishra was beheaded and the severed head sent to Lucknow; in Ghazipur district, 23 BJP workers were murdered; dacoit gangs had hung ransom rates at public places; senior policemen were beaten up and abused by SP workers; bombs were hurled at the district court in Firozabad and the Government had failed to ban the SIMI despite a Central ban.

The memorandum also highlighted "irregularities" during civic elections, and charged Mr. Yadav with nepotism and casteism.

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