Mulayam should step down on moral grounds: Left

New Delhi, Feb 14 (UNI) Welcoming the Supreme Court ruling disqualifying 13 breakaway BSP MLAs in Uttar Pradesh, the Left parties today said Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav should step down on moral grounds.

While the CPI(M) sought more time to come out with a ''considered reaction'', the CPI said ''The role of the Speaker should also come into question as he misinterpreted and manupulated the defections to please political bosses.'' Forward Bloc national secretary G Devrajan said his party welcomed the judgement and the defectors should draw a lesson from the verdict.

In a landmark judgement, the apex court dismissed the petitions of 37 UP MLAs belonging to the BSP breakaway group, who had formed an independent group called the Bahujan Loktantrik Dal(BLD) and enabled Mr Yadav to form a government in the state.

The court held that 13 MLAs of the breakaway group, who had defected on August 27, 2003, were guilty of defection, and disqualified them as MLAs.

CPI leaders A B Bardhan and Shamim Faizi said, ''The judgement stressed the need for redrafting the Anti-Defection Law. It took almost three years to decide the defections by 13 of the 37 MLAs, who had enjoyed power all these years.'' They said Mr Yadav during all these three years had ruled on the basis of the MLAs who had now been disqualified.

''On moral grounds, he should step down,'' the CPI leaders said.

Mr Devrajan said the verdict was a great lesson for the defectors, who got elected on a particular manifesto and deserted it later without seeking a fresh mandate.

''We demand a comprehensive electoral reform and a proper amendment to the People's Representatives Act,'' he added.

UNI