SP demands UP Gov's removal for impartial assembly polls

Lucknow, Nov 24 (UNI) The ruling Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh today demanded the removal of Governor T V Rajeswar to enable ''conduct of free and fair assembly elections'' in the state.

The party said it would meet the President and hand him over a memorandum in this regard. ''It is upto the senior party leaders in the national capital to decide when to meet the President in this regard,'' SP spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhury said here.

''The Governor has crossed all constitutional limits and is working as an agent of a political party. Therefore, we demand that the President remove him in the interest of democracy,'' he added.

He claimed the Governor's observation on the working of the state police during Police Day parade here yesterday was against norms.

Reacting sharply to the Governor's remark in his Police Day parade address, Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav had claimed that persons holding gubernatorial posts should exercise restraint in making such comments against the government.

The Governor, whose adverse comments on UP's law and order situation, has posed discomfiture to the government on many occasions in the past, made some harsh remarks on UP Police evoking sharp reaction from the Chief Minister.

The incident took place on a day when Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) N Gopalaswamy was in the state capital to review poll preparedness for the 2007 assembly polls.

Mr Rajeswar in his address said the ''kidnapping industry'' was flourishing in Western UP. Questioning the impartiality of some policemen, the Governor said he had received more than 1,000 complaints in the recent civic polls.

The Governor may have received over a thousand complaints against the conduct of the police force in the recently concluded UP urban bodies poll, but all of them will not be correct, Mr Yadav said.

''There could be some isolated cases of policemen committing irregularities. My government is willing to take action if pointed out specifically,'' He told reporters at a news conference here yesterday.

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