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Emergency-like situation in Uttar Pradesh: Mulayam

LUCKNOW: The former Chief Minister and Leader of the Opposition in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly, Mulayam Singh, on Wednesday attacked the Mayawati government for creating an emergency-like situation in the State and accused it of adopting undemocratic and unconstitutional methods.

Initiating a debate on the motion of thanks to Governor T.V. Rajeswar’s address in the Assembly, Mr. Singh said the officers were feeling disillusioned and the State had become a safe haven for terrorists. He alleged that poor Muslims were being sent to jail, or were being killed on charges of terrorism.

Mr. Singh said the government’s policies were detrimental to the industrial development of the State and had also caused an exodus of traders. On an average, five farmers were committing suicide every day in the drought-hit Bundelkhand region.

He cautioned Ms. Mayawati, who was present in the House, to be wary of the designs of sycophants.

Mr. Singh said the appointment of a non-IAS officer as the Cabinet Secretary, with the status of a Cabinet Minister, had caused resentment among the officers of the IAS and IPS cadres. He said the Cabinet Secretary’s access to official files violated the Constitution. He said that in the nine months of the present regime, cases had been filed against 11,000 Samajwadi Party workers, who were either in jail, or had fled the State.

The House was thrown in turmoil during the Question Hour following the expulsion of a Samajwadi MLA, Imran Masood, for the remainder of the ongoing Budget session by Speaker Sukhdev Rajbhar. The expulsion was, however, later revoked.Mr. Masood was expelled when the Speaker took offence to the MLA climbing the reporters’ table during a protest in the Well of the House by the SP members. They were protesting against Parliamentary Affairs Minister Lalji Verma’s move to disallow Mr. Singh’s demand for a debate on the availability of urea and DAP in the State.

Mr. Rajbhar’s decision drew a strong protest from Mr. Singh, who asked the Speaker to expel him and the other SP MLAs for the rest of the session. The potentially volatile situation was defused by Om Prakash Singh of the Bharatiya Janata Party and Pramod Tiwari of the Congress.

Before the House rose for the day, the Uttar Pradesh Control of Organised Crime Act (UPCOCA) was passed sans the SP, which had staged a walkout.

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