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BJP MLA tenders conditional resignation in UP

Sharat Pradhan in Lucknow

A beleaguered Uttar Pradesh Bharatiya Janata Party received another jolt when its legislator from Hardoi, Ganga Singh Chauhan, put in his papers to the assembly speaker late Friday night.

His resignation was in protest against the party leadership's impotence in taking action against ally Loktantrik Congress Party chief Naresh Agarwal, who he has accused of being a key conspirator in his wife's murder last fortnight.

Chauhan was a victim of an attack by miscreants while he was asleep in his Hardoi residence. His wife was killed in the attack, while he ended up with serious injuries.

His resignation was sent to Speaker Keshri Nath Tripathi by facsimile at about 22.30 hours IST. However it contained a rider: it should be accepted if his bete noire Naresh Agarwal also offered to step down.

"Let us both resign and face the people's court," he said.

"I challenge Naresh Agarwal to face me in an open contest at the hustings," he added.

Tripathi declined to accept the resignation on technical grounds. He told rediff.com on Saturday morning, "A resignation through facsimile has no locus standi; a legislator's resignation must come on a prescribed format; therefore, Ganga Singh Chauhan's resignation has no meaning and therefore cannot be accepted."

Meanwhile, according to reports from the legislator's hometown, Hardoi, which also happens to be the political abode of Agarwal, fireworks were witnessed at the thirteenth day condolence assembly of Chauhan's wife on Friday. The legislator once again charged Agarwal with "direct involvement" in the attack.

He also flayed the government for not suspending, and only transferring district police superintendent S S Maheswari, whom he accused of being a part of the "murder conspiracy".

Signifiantly, this happened in the presence of two BJP ministers and six party legislators, besides several former parliamentarians, who had gone to Hardoi for the condolence ceremony.

Housing and urban development minister Lalji Tandon and finance minister Harish Chandra Srivastava refrained from making remarks for or against the ally minister, who had earlier warned the chief minister of parting ways if the Hardoi legislator was not restrained from making "wild accusations".

They declined comment as the matter has been referred to the Central Bureau of Investigation.

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