UP: Mayawati urges EC to announce Assembly polls by Feb

New Delhi, Aug 17: BSP supremo Mayawati today urged the Election Commission to hold Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh by February, alleging that the "infighting" within the Mulayam Singh Yadav clan will have an adverse effect on the functioning of the Samajwadi Party government.

She alleged that while BJP and Samajwadi Party want to delay the assembly polls, the Commission should start working on the schedule and announce the dates in January-February in larger "public interest".

In a statement issued here, the former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister said ideally the BJP-led government should have prepared for imposition of President's Rule in the state long back due to the prevailing situation there.

"But keeping in mind the poor state of the BJP in UP, the Centre has not been able to gather courage to impose President's Rule," she said. Widening cracks in the ruling Samajwadi Party in UP came to the fore earlier this week.

At an Independence Day function in Lucknow on Monday, SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav caused a flutter by attacking his son and Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav for ignoring his uncle Shivpal Yadav.

Mulayam had threatened to release within eight days a list of people who need to be sacked from the SP unless his son "mends his ways".

PTI