— Photos : Subir Roy

SOUND AND FURY: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav arrives for a special session of the Legislature in Lucknow on Thursday. (Right): Governor T.V. Rajeswar (extreme right) leaves the House after his speech was disrupted.

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LUCKNOW: A determined Opposition on Thursday demanded the dismissal of the Mulayam Singh Yadav Government, forcing Uttar Pradesh Governor T.V. Rajeswar to cut short his address to a joint sitting of the Legislature.

No sooner did the Governor ascend the Speaker's podium at 11.30 a.m. than members of the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Bahujan Samaj Party, the Congress and the Rashtriya Lok Dal were on their feet raising slogans against the Government. After reading the opening line, Mr. Rajeswar cut short his speech saying "Jai Hind" and left the Assembly.

The RLD withdrew its support to the Government following the Congress decision on Wednesday. Letters in this regard were submitted to the Governor.

Walkout

The House later witnessed a walkout by the BSP MLAs who tore copies of the Governor's speech. While the BJP legislators waved banners and placards, the BSP members sported a headgear, which displayed slogans demanding the dismissal of the Government for its alleged role in the Nithari killings and the foodgrains scandal.

Some BJP MLAs also entered the well. When the House reassembled at 1 p.m. after an adjournment, the BJP and BSP members opposed Speaker Mata Prasad Pandey reading the text of the Governor's address.

The BJP claimed that Mr. Rajeswar had not read the address "as a measure of protest against the present regime's sins of omission and commission."

In his address, Mr. Rajeswar lauded the Government's efforts to maintain law and order, and said it had succeeded in developing communal harmony and brotherhood during the past three- and a-half years.

It had succeeded in tightening its grip over law and order.

There had been a "positive decline" in incidents of dacoity, kidnapping for ransom, road hold-ups and rioting, he said. Central agencies and the Union Home Ministry had accepted these facts.

On the Noida serial killings, Mr. Rajeswar lauded the Government for taking measures to mitigate the suffering of the victims' families.

The Assembly will meet again on January 24.

Quick to seize the initiative, the Samajwadi Party sang a different tune and lavished praise on the Governor for his "foresight" and "wisdom."

Addressing a press conference, Agriculture Minister Ashok Bajpai said misgivings on the law and order scenario would be laid to rest after the Governor's address.

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