Mulayam wins trust vote

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav yesterday won the trust motion of the Uttar Pradesh assembly comfortably. With the assured support of 242 lawmakers in a House of 403, which currently has two vacancies, the outcome was never in doubt when Yadav moved the motion of confidence in his Council of Ministers yesterday.

He was asked by Governor Vishnu Kant Shastri to prove his majority on the floor of the House within two weeks after his claim to form an alternative government was accepted following Mayawati's resignation as the chief minister and her recommendation to dissolve the assembly.

The Supreme Court yesterday rejected a writ petition filed by Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) challenging Shastri's decision to invite Yadav to form the government rejecting Mayawati's controversial recommendation to dissolve the assembly. While the outcome of the trust vote was never in doubt, it is after long that the state assembly witnessed a proper assembly debate since Mayawati had been avoiding assembly sessions and was convening it only for small durations to fulfil the constitutional obligation which stipulates that the House must meet at least once in six months. And even when it met, violence and uproarious scenes always marred the proceedings.

Political observers insist that Yadav's tenure as the federal Defence Minister and his experience as a senior opposition leader in the Lok Sabha has brought about the qualitative change in the proceedings of the House. BSP leader Swami Prasad Maurya, who was informed earlier in the day by the assembly secretariat that he had ceased to be Leader of Opposition upon his party's split, charged that criminals, who were on run during the Mayawati administration, have become "guests" of the state government now. A supremely confident Yadav, whose worries were over when 37 out of 109 BSP lawmakers walked out of the party in his support on Saturday evening, however, put to rest all speculations announcing he does not believe in a politics of revenge, referring to attempts by rival Mayawati to arrest him and his deputy Amar Singh.

Yadav outlined priorities of his government during his hour-long speech.

BJP leader Lalji Tandon, who took over as Leader of Opposition which entitles him to the salary and perks of a cabinet minister, responded positively to Yadav's call for cooperation by saying that his party will support on all people's welfare schemes and oppose it if it went astray.

Yadav is expected to expand his council of ministers soon. He had inducted six ministers, two each from his Samajwadi Party, the Rashtriya Lok Dal and the Rashtriya Kranti Party, on Sunday evening to avoid an unprecedented situation of a chief minister without a ministry seeking trust in his council of ministers.

While the Congress party has announced its outside support to the government, Yadav's political acumen will be put to test since a large number of BSP's rebels, independents and members of smaller parties are already vying for ministerial berths. Balancing his council of ministers and providing stability to his government without making all aspirants ministers is being seen as a tough act.

Outcome of voting on confidence motion

- Total strength of state assembly: 403
- Vacancies: 2
- Those who voted in favour of Yadav government: 244
- Those who voted against the government: 154
- Absent: 3