LUCKNOW: With the entire Opposition boycotting the proceedings, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav won a vote of confidence in the Assembly on Thursday.

The boycott was sparked by Transport Minister Naresh Agarwal rejecting the Opposition demand that he quit for his comments in the House on Wednesday. During the debate on the Governor's address, the Minister said that had he been the Chief Minister he would have used unfair means in the civic polls.

Once MLAs of the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), the Congress, the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) and the Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha abstained during the Chief Minister's reply to the debate on the Governor's address and the subsequent voting, the verdict became a foregone conclusion.

The final verdict, delivered by Speaker Mata Prasad Pandey, showed that eight BJP, three BSP and three RLD members had voted in favour of the confidence motion.

These 14 MLAs had switched loyalties to the ruling Samajwadi Party but were technically still in the parent parties, as no action had been taken against them by their leadership.

It was Mr. Yadav who moved the one-line motion, which said "this House reposes its confidence in the Council of Ministers." The trust motion was clubbed with the voting on the motion of thanks to the Governor's address.The Assembly has a strength of 404 MLAs including the nominated member Peter Fanthome of the Anglo-Indian community. Two seats are vacant and nine members, whose disqualification cases were pending in court, did not enjoy voting rights. Two other MLAs were absent.

The final verdict showed that the Government secured 28 votes more than the required simple majority.

Considering that the Samajwadi Party has 152 MLAs and was assured of the support of 33 Loktantrik Bahujan Dal members, 14 of the 16 Independents, two MLAs of the Uttar Pradesh Loktantrik Congress, one Communist Party of India (Marxist) MLA and six unattached members, the ruling party's numbers added up to 208 before the trust vote was taken up. With the additional support of 14 rebels and another MLA, its final tally rose to 223.

In his reply to the debate on the motion of thanks, Mr. Yadav slammed the BJP, the BSP, the Congress and the RLD for boycotting the proceedings.

Mr. Yadav lauded Governor T.V. Rajeswar who, he said was a simple man but was misled by the Congress and the United Progressive Alliance Government, which was exerting pressure on him.

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