Governor's remark ignites furore in UP assembly

Lucknow, May 22 (UNI) Having witnessed some of the noisiest scenes, both the houses of Uttar Pradesh legislature were adjourned for the day today amid pandemonium over Governor T V Rajeswar's address yesterday in which he had described the previous Mulayam Singh Yadav regime as ''unconstitutional''.

In the Vidhan Sabha, the SP members led by leader of the opposition Mulayam Singh Yadav raised the furore over the Governor's remark while in the upper house the pandemonium was orchestrated by the ruling MLAs led by Ahmad Hasan. In both the houses the ruling party members indulged in slogan shouting, tossing caps and storming into the well of the house.

Demanding deletion of the word ''unconstitutional'' from the text, they stalled the proceedings of the houses for over two hours before they were adjourned for the day.

In the lower house SP members led by Mr Yadav, senior member Mohd Azam Khan and others indulged in vociferous protest over the use of word ''unconstitutional'' in the Governor' address demanding deletion of the same.

The discussion on the motion of thanks on the Governor's address could not take place as the din prevailed in the house for a considerable time virtually bringing the normal proceedings to a halt.

In between, though, the house passed an amendment bill to change of name of King George Medical University(KGMU) at Lucknow to Chhatrapati Shahuji Maharaj University.

The SP members raised slogans against the Governor and even climbed up the reporters table and threw paper balls and caps of the security personnel towards the chair.

Speaker Sukhdeo Rajbhar repeatedly asked the members to calm down so that leader of the opposition Mulayam Singh Yadav could start his address on the motion of thanks. When no one heard to his plea he adjourned the house till tomorrow.

Interestingly. the attitude of the main opposition party invited the wrath of all other opposition parties, including Bharatiya Janata Party, the Congress and Ajit Singh-led Rashtriya Lok Dal who criticised the former for denying the house a ''fruitful'' and ''constructive'' discussion on the motion of thanks.

Today was the second day of the brief first session of 15th assembly which had commenced with the Governor's address to both the houses yesterday.

Opposition members were on their feet as soon as the house assembled for the day. They argued if the Mulayam government was ''unconstitutional'' then the present Mayawati government should also be termed the same and the proceeding of the house should be treated as ''infructuous''.

They stormed into the well of the house despite repeated appeals from the chair to exercise restraint. As the din continued Speaker Sukhdev Rajbhar adjourned the house first for about 45 minutes and then for an hour but not before the Parliamentary Affairs Minister Lalji Verma tried to convince the opposition that the Governor's address was never subjected to editing hence the hue and cry was ''unfounded''.

The SP continued to sit in the well of the house even during the adjournment period while Mr Yadav also remained with the members.

In his joint address to both the houses yesterday, the Governor described the previous Mulayam Singh Yadav regime unconstitutional as it was formed after ''splitting other parties''.

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