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Samajwadi Party welcomes judgment of Allahabad High Court

Special Correspondent

LUCKNOW: The Samajwadi Party on Friday welcomed the Allahabad High Court judgment pertaining to suo motu dismissal of a writ seeking disqualification of 24 Loktantrik Bahujan Dal (LBD) MLAs.

Addressing a press conference,Agriculture Minister Ashok Bajpai justified the High Court verdict and said the Samajwadi Party's stand had been vindicated in that the Supreme Court had disqualified only 13 LBD MLAs. Mr. Bajpai said the apex court had said nothing on the status of the 24 other legislators.

He said the court verdict had exposed the Opposition parties that were demanding dismissal of the Mulayam Singh Government and imposition of President's rule.

Mr. Bajpai stated that a meeting of the SP MLAs and allies would be held here on February 25 to finalise the strategy for next day's trial of strength on the floor of the Vidhan Sabha. The Agriculture Minister said after the floor test on February 26, the SP MLAs and allies would hit the poll campaign trail for the April-May UP Assembly elections.

Meanwhile, UP Congress Committee president Salman Khurshid said the announcement of the Assembly election schedule was a relevant factor in the possibility of imposition of President's rule being placed on the backburner.

Mr. Khurshid told reporters here that despite the announcement of the poll dates the Congress stuck to its stand that the Mulayam Singh Government was an unconstitutional Government in the light of the apex court's verdict. The UPCC president said the Congress had done its homework but there were other practical considerations that could not be ignored.

Elaborating, he said since the UPA Government was a coalition regime the opinion of the alliance partners, chiefly the CPM, had to be kept in mind. Mr. Khurshid said the Election Commission's decision to hold a seven-phased election in UP showed that the law and order situation in the State was bad. He expressed the optimism that the poll panel would succeed in conducting a free and fair election.

Regarding the poll preparedness of the Congress, Mr. Khurshid said the names of the probable candidates had been empanelled, with the names of the candidates for 150 to 200 constituencies almost finalised.

He added that the candidates' list would be announced soon.

Mr. Khurshid said the poll campaign programme of Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Amethi MP Rahul Gandhi was being finalised. He said the Congress leaders would launch an intensive poll campaign in UP.

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Samajwadi Party welcomes judgment of Allahabad High Court

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