Lucknow, June 03: The statement of nine independent legislators reaffirming their support to the Mayawati government is perceived here as a desperate bid by the ruling BSP-BJP combine to show that there is no threat to the government despite a united opposition move to dislodge it. The nine independent legislators, whom the opposition claimed were ready to cross floor, yesterday said in a signed statement that they would continue to support the BSP-BJP government in the state.
These nine independent MLAs have assumed centre stage as the strength of the Mayawati government has been reduced to 212 in a House of 402 after the withdrawal of support by the 14-member Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD). These MLAs reportedly held a meeting yesterday at the residence of the independent MLA Vijay Singh, an accused in the senior BJP leader Bramha Dutt Dwivedi murder case, and took the decision to support the Mayawati government.
A majority of these nine legislators were having criminal antecedents and at least one of them had been declared an absconder. These nine legislators had stood by the government in the past yet the ruling combine chose to ask them to reaffirm their support in a bid to demoralise the opposition, which had been making frantic efforts to rope them in, sources here said. Bureau Report