Mayawati demands Ppresident's rule in UP over Gorakhpur flare-up

Lucknow, Jan 30 (UNI) Charging the Mulayam Singh Yadav government and the Opposition BJP with fomenting communal flare-up in Gorakhpur to polarise Muslim votes, former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and BSP supremo Mayawati today demanded imposition of President's rule in Uttar Pradesh.

Talking to reporters here, Ms Mayawati said Samajwadi Party and BJP were deliberately creating communal disturbances in UP ahead of the impending UP assembly polls.

''They have lost mass base...the worry of losing the assembly election is the driving force behind fomenting communal trouble to polarise votes on religious lines,'' she added.

She also asked Governor T V Rajeswar to personally visit the riot-torn district to find out the root cause behind the flare-up.

''If possible, the governor should pressurise the state government into ordering a CBI probe into the incident.'' Ms Mayawati also sought a ban on the visit of political leaders to Gorakhpur till normalcy was restored. ''The Governor can write to the centre, which in turn can send an all-party delegation of MPs to the district...the delegation can then file its report on the situation and the causes behind the riots to the central government,'' she opined.

Tomorrow, the BSP would organise protests against the riots at all divisional headquarters in UP. ''We have excluded Gorakhpur division from the protests, since the situation there is still tense,'' she informed.

UNI