SEEKING SUPPORT: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh, Samajwadi Party leaders Amar Singh (second from right), Beni Prasad Verma and Akhilesh Yadav at the All India Kurmi MahaSammelan in Lucknow on Thursday. — PHOTO: PTI

LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav has agreed to abide by Governor T.V. Rajeswar's decision on proroguing the Assembly, averting a constitutional crisis.

An emergency meeting of his Cabinet on Thursday — the fourth in the last three days — reversed the decision for a continuation of the session. The meeting lasted 30 minutes.

Mr. Yadav told journalists that the notification would be issued (by Speaker Mata Prasad Pandey) on the Governor's letter to prorogue the Assembly.

With this the Assembly sitting, slated to begin from January 15, has been automatically cancelled. The decision to hold the session in continuation of the Assembly sitting which was adjourned sine die on December 15, 2006, was taken during Tuesday night's marathon Cabinet meeting. To indicate that the session would be held as per schedule, advertisements announcing the session from January 15, were carried in local dailies.

What appears to have led to the reversal of the decision is a letter from the Raj Bhavan to Mr. Yadav and the Speaker earlier in the day. Raj Bhavan sources said that in his letter, Mr. Rajeswar asked Mr. Yadav and Mr. Pandey to follow constitutional norms.

At a Kurmi rally held earlier in the day, Mr. Yadav defended the Cabinet decision to convene the session and said that according to constitutional experts, the Governor was bound by the decision of the Council of Ministers.

At a press conference held after the rally, Agriculture Minister Ashok Bajpai blamed the Raj Bhavan for "constitutional instability," and said the Cabinet decision could not be reversed or challenged.

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