With an eye on the next Assembly elections, the Opposition parties in UP are preparing for a “final assault” on the Mayawati government in the UP Assembly’s Budget Session that begins from Friday.
The SP and the Congress will mount a blistering attack on the Mayawati government while the BJP — buoyed up by its aggressive posture at the Centre — will also follow suit.
“The Mayawati government has lost the faith of the people and its ministers and legislators are turning into law breakers. The government will have to do a lot of answering on issues like the Banda rape case, Divya murder case and the growing atrocities on dalits. One BSP minister has been named n the suicide note of a lawyer while another is guilty of forcibly keeping a rape victim in his house. We will raise these issues in an aggressive manner and will not allow the house to function unless the government comes clean on these issues,” says Leader of the Opposition Shivpal Singh Yadav. What has further encouraged the Samajwadis to take on the Mayawati government is the presence of Mohammed Azam Khan who is known to be a vociferous speaker.
“You can be assured of fireworks in this session because Azam Khan is going to make his presence felt. Besides, we are going to raise issues that will turn the government turn a shade of red,” said a senior SP MLA.
The Congress, on the other hand, is also ready for an assault on the state government. Party MLA Vivek Singh who had first raised the Sheelu rape case and had brought the issue into the public domain, says, “The state government had not done anything on its own — it has been forced to follow court orders. The SP of Banda who played a questionable role in the whole case has yet to be punished. We will take the government to task in the Assembly on this issue.”
The BJP, on the other hand, has drawn up a list of cases related to dalit atrocities and plans to put the Mayawati government in the dock on these issues.
“Elections are barely a year away and the party that adopts the most aggressive posture in this Assembly session will find it easier to position itself as a viable political alternative before the people of the state. Every party in the Opposition, therefore, will try to outdo each other in establishing itself,” says a senior political analyst.
The ruling BSP, on the other hand, is fully geared up to meet the challenge. CM Mayawati has directed all ministers to come well-prepared with issues related to their department.