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3 BJP allies boycott cabinet meet, UP crisis deepens

With the boycott of the meeting of the state cabinet by three alliance partners in the government, the political crisis has deepended in Uttar Pradesh.

Jantantrik Bahujan Samaj Party leader Markandey Chand, after attending the cabinet meeting, told the media that in his view Kalyan Singh should be replaced. He said that he attended the meeting only to ensure that the CM did not get any one-sided resolution passed.

On the other hand, Irrigation Minister Om Prakash Singh, who is considered close to the chief minister, appealed to the Bharatiya Janata Party leadership to put an immediate end to the party-government differences lest even the village-level votes of the BJP would be affected.

He also demanded disciplinary action against those making intra-party differences public and said the chief minister should be included in its purview.

Yesterday JBSP Minister Yashwant Singh had said that the BJP should elect a new legislative party leader considering the differences in the party.

His JBSP colleagues in the cabinet Munna Lal Maurya, Shivendra Singh and Prem Prakash Singh told the media yesterday that in a joint meeting of BJP and its supporting parties, all BJP claimants for the post of chief minister should be called and ''we would elect the chief minister unanimously''.

UNI

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