NEW DELHI: President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam on Tuesday received two political delegations with contrary demands on Uttar Pradesh.

A Samajwadi Party delegation of MPs sought the recall of Governor T.V. Rajeswar, while a Jan Morcha group led by the former Prime Minister, V.P. Singh, demanded the dismissal of the Mulayam Singh Government.

Accompanied by Raj Babbar, Mr. Singh later told mediapersons that the Uttar Pradesh Government should be dismissed in keeping with the spirit of the February 14 Supreme Court order that disqualified 13 MLAs who left the Bahujan Samaj Party for the SP when it formed the government in 2003. "There is an anti-defection law. The apex court talked about it. From that angle this is an unconstitutional government."

Mr. Singh said that in a democracy a government formed on defections was untenable. "If democracy has to be saved then there should be curbs on defection."

"Thirdly, we told the President that it was not possible to have impartial and fair elections under the Mulayam Singh regime. For that this government must go."

Asked about the position taken by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) against imposition of President's rule in Uttar Pradesh, he said they should "rethink."

SP's charge

Earlier speaking to mediapersons, SP general secretary Amar Singh said the party had sought the recall of the Governor who was "working at the behest of the ruling party at the Centre" and "had failed to fulfil his constitutional duties with objectivity and honesty (behoving) the office."

In two separate memoranda submitted to the President, the SP said the court judgment "nowhere" questioned the constitutionality of the Mulayam Singh Government.

The party said the Speaker would take a decision on the remaining 24 members and till such time it would be premature for the Government or political parties to disqualify them.

The memorandum written by party general secretary Ram Gopal suggested that the apex court, in its order, enjoined upon the Speaker to decide the fate of the remaining members, whereas this was not the case. The court order is silent on this.

Quoting from the Bommai case judgment, the memorandum said that "if the question of motivation or manner of members of the legislation to change their support is the basis of the constitutionality of a government, then Narasimha Rao's Congress government at the Centre would be the `most unconstitutional' as it was indicted by the Supreme Court in the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha bribery case."

While defending itself on the law and order front, the party said there was apprehension that the Congress wanted the Uttar Pradesh Assembly out of the electoral college for the Presidential elections by deferring them to August 2007 or beyond.

"We said let us show our majority on the floor of the House on February 26," said Mr. Amar Singh. SP MPs Ram Gopal, Uday Pratap Singh, Virender Bhatia, Dharmendra, Shahid Siddhiqui and Jaya Bachchan were the other members of the delegation that met the President.

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