Mulayam claims comfortable majority

Rejecting the demand for his resignation, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav on Wednesday claimed that his government enjoyed a comfortable majority and can prove it in the assembly on February 26 next when it meets again.

The House is currently in session and is scheduled to meet on February 26.

"We had proved our majority in the House on January 25 and we are ready to prove it again if so desired by the opposition," Yadav said at a hurriedly-called news conference soon after the Supreme Court judgment disqualifying 13 breakaway BSP MLAs supporting his ministry.

He said his government had obtained 223 votes on the Motion of Confidence and the Motion of Thanks on the Governor's address on January 25.

"The disqualification of 13 MLAs will not make any difference on the health of the government," he claimed, adding that one of the 13 MLAs, Udai Bhan Singh, had already been disqualified following his conviction in a case of murder while two more had "also already left us and joined the ranks of the opposition".

Welcoming the apex court order, Yadav said it showed that the judiciary in the country was acting in an impartial manner that would strengthen the democracy.

He, however, rejected the demand for his resignation on moral grounds, saying that governments in the past had also been formed under similar circumstances.

"We are going into the polls... the people will take a decision themselves," Yadav said.

Asked whether the very formation of his government was "unconstitutional" in the light of the apex court order, a visibly upset Mulayam shot back, "Don't teach me lessons in morality and introspect yourself on this count."

When asked if he would seek resignations of the ministers who stood disqualified, he said, "We will decide what to do now."

Lambasting the opposition parties, Yadav said they wanted to force the governor to dismiss his government, paving the way for President's Rule.

The opposition was wary of facing the polls and wanted to get it deferred by a year so that elections could be held under President's Rule, Yadav alleged.

He said the BSP MLAs had joined his party and the government on the basis of its policies and principles.