Amid pandemonium, House was adjourned within 20 minutes

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Monday moved a resolution in the Vidhan Sabha for splitting the State into Purvanchal, Bundelkhand, Avadh Pradesh and Pashchim Pradesh and it was passed by voice vote amid pandemonium. The House was adjourned sine die within 20 minutes after the winter session began.

The resolution went through as members of the Samajwadi Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party stormed the well. The adjournment stunned the two parties, as they had served a no-confidence notice against the government and demanded a discussion. Nor was there any discussion on the resolution, though it was supported by the Rashtriya Lok Dal.

Before the resolution was moved, a vote-on-account for the first four months of 2012-13 was passed by voice vote. The winter session was to have lasted for two days, and the decision of the Business Advisory Committee was read out by Speaker Sukhdev Rajbhar. However, after the vote-on-account and the resolution were passed, he adjourned the House sine die at 12.35 p.m.

Barring five minutes after the House assembled, the entire question hour was lost. When the House re-assembled at 12.20 p.m. for zero hour, the rest of the proceedings were concluded in 15 minutes, before the curtains were down on the session, possibly the last of the 15th Vidhan Sabha.

U.P. to send resolution to Centre soon

The Central government was being asked to reorganise Uttar Pradesh into Purvanchal, Bundelkhand, Avadh Pradesh and Pashchim Pradesh, Chief Minister Mayawati said while reading out the resolution in the Vidhan Sabha on the issue. She defended her move saying her government had fulfilled its responsibility in people's interest.

After the resolution was passed, Parliamentary Affairs and Finance Minister Lalji Verma urged the Speaker that the passage of the vote-on-account be taken as a vote of confidence in the government. This, too, was passed by a voice vote

Ms. Mayawati later told journalists that the resolution would soon be sent to the Centre. She rejected the Opposition charge that the decision was an election stunt.

She parried a question whether the division would form her Bahujan Samajwadi Party's agenda for the Assembly elections due next year. She said the reorganisation was necessary for development.

The House got off to a stormy start when it assembled for question hour, with Samajwadi Party members demanding the dismissal of the government and BJP members trooping into the well.

While the BJP said it had no confidence in the government, the Samajwadi Party said the government was in a minority.

As bedlam prevailed, the Speaker adjourned the House till 12.20 p.m.

The commotion continued when the session resumed after question hour, before the House was adjourned.

Talking to journalists, Leader of the Opposition Shivpal Singh Yadav accused the government of violating the Constitution as the no-confidence motion was not put up for discussion.

“In a minority”

He said the government was in a minority and the people did not want any division of the State.

He later led a Samajwadi Party delegation to Governor B.L. Joshi and demanded that a special session of the Assembly be convened, and the proposal be put to vote.

BJP Legislature Party leader Om Prakash Singh said the decision to table the resolution was ill-intentioned, as it was passed without any discussion.