UP cabinet decides to convene new session, CM to meet Governor

Lucknow, Jan 12: In a fresh twist to the ongoing political controversy in Uttar Pradesh, the Mulayam Singh government today decided to convene the Assembly on January 18 for the winter session.

The decision -- which comes barely a few hours after the government averted a possible showdown with the Raj Bhawan by deciding not to reconvene the monsoon session on January 15 after Governor T V Rajeswar prorogued it -- was taken at a meeting of the cabinet this morning.

Mr Yadav is now scheduled to meet the Governor, at around 1130 hrs, to communicate the decision of the cabinet to him.

The session will begin by an address by the Governor to a joint session of the state legislature and then there will a debate on the Motion of Thanks, followed by a vote of confidence. This morning's cabinet meeting was the fifth in the last two days, and came just 12 hrs after the meeting last night where it was decided to withdraw the decision taken on January 9's meeting to reconvene the monsoon session from January 15 to take the vote of confidence after Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) snapped ties with the government.

Emerging out of the meeting last night, the CM said it was decided to withdraw the January 9 decision to reconvene the monsoon session.

''Anyhow, a new session of the assembly will be convened at a later date. As of now, the monsoon session stands prorogued,'' he said.

The political developments started after Mr Ajit Singh withdrew his three RLD ministers from the ruling dispensation over sugarcane prices.

Even as the cabinet decided to reconvene the assembly, the governor gave his assent to prorogue the house on the decision of the cabinet taken on January 3.

On January 10, the government held two cabinet meetings one on a regular basis, while another an emergency one in the evening to endorse reconvening of the monsoon session.

Much political heat was generated in the last three days after the ruling party charged the governor with acting beyond his constitutional powers, and ''conspiring to create constitutional crisis in UP.

UNI