Gorakhpur flare-up: Mayawati demands Prez rule

Lucknow, Jan 30: Charging the Mulayam Singh Yadav government andthe Opposition BJP with fomenting communal flare-up in Gorakhpur topolarise Muslim votes, former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and BSPsupremo Mayawati today demanded imposition of President's rule in UttarPradesh.

Talking to reporters here, Ms Mayawati said Samajwadi Party andBJP were deliberately creating communal disturbances in UP ahead of theimpending UP assembly polls.

''They have lost mass base...the worry of losing the assemblyelection is the driving force behind fomenting communal trouble topolarise 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 governmentinto ordering a CBI probe into the incident.'' Ms Mayawati also soughta ban on the visit of political leaders to Gorakhpur till normalcy wasrestored. ''The Governor can write to the centre, which in turn cansend an all-party delegation of MPs to the district...the delegationcan then file its report on the situation and the causes behind theriots to the central government,'' she opined.

Tomorrow, the BSP would organise protests against the riots at alldivisional headquarters in UP. ''We have excluded Gorakhpur divisionfrom the protests, since the situation there is still tense,'' sheinformed.

UNI

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