Etawah, Nov 19: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav said he had set a healthy democratic trend by assigning the important post of Assembly Speaker to an opposition party leader. ''We have allowed BJP leader Kesri Nath Tripathi to continue as the State Assembly Speaker establishing a healthy democratic tradition and now he has to live up to the expectations,'' Mr Yadav told a news conference.

The Speaker's job is to help the government and protect the opposition on the floor of the House, he said, adding if Mr Tripathi succeeds in effectively carrying out the task, a very good message would be sent. He must prove that the Assembly Speaker does not belong to any particualar party, Mr Yadav said.

On the Congress' objection to Mr Tripathi's continuation as the Assembly Speaker, the Chief Minister said if the Congress rakes up the matter, it would be a hasty, irrelavant and wrong move. The Congress must introspect and find out whether its statements and reactions actually benefit anyone, he added. Bureau Report