Thin attendance lands U.P. Govt. in trouble

By P. K. Roy

LUCKNOW, APRIL 10. Taking advantage of a thin presence in the treasury benches of the Legislative Assembly, the Opposition today pressed for a division over the introduction of a Bill for amendment to the Trade Tax Act and inflicted a defeat by 55-83 votes.The Presiding Officer of the House, Mr. Munna Singh Chauhan, who belongs to the Opposition, however, ruled that since it was not a Money Bill within the meaning of Article 199, the Government would not be deemed to have been defeated, in the face of the Opposition demand amid pandemonium for the resignation of the Gupta Government.

The Opposition later rushed to Raj Bhavan and submitted a joint memorandum to the Governor, Mr. Suraj Bhan, claiming that the Gupta Government had been defeated on the floor of the Assembly and it must be dismissed immediately.

They said the Government should now resign on moral grounds. Led by the Opposition leader, Mr. Dhani Ram Verma and leaders of other parties including the Congress, BSP and others, they demanded that the Opposition be given three days to form an alternative Government by which time they would have elected a leader.

Among the opposition MLAs was Mr. Jagdambika Pal who remained Chief Minister for less than 48 hours in February 1998. The entire Opposition exercise at the Raj Bhawan was apparently aimed at extracting mileage since there was little doubt about majority support to the Government in the Assembly which has been demonstrated by easy passage of the Motion of Thanks to the Governor's address before the joint session of the legislature on April 7. The Opposition had then not sought any division as the treasury bench was present in full strength.

Sensing that the attendence today in the treasury bench was less than that of the opposition at the given time, the Leader of the Opposition and CLP leader, Mr. Pramod Tiwari sought division when the Minister for Trade Tax sought permission to introduce a Bill for amendment in the Trade Tax Act. Normally, voting is seldom pressed for when a Bill is introduced. This is done after a debate in the House over its provisions and over its passage. The particular Bill was not designated as Money Bill by the Speaker as is customary, hence even its defeat on the floor of the House does not represent defeat of the Government. This was pointed out by the Presiding Officer, Mr.Munna Singh Chauhan, who was in the chair in the absence of the Speaker, Mr. Kesari Nath Tripathi.

However, the Opposition was in no mood to listen and barged into the well of the House, stalling the proceedings of the House. The House was adjourned for 15 minutes. Later, the listed agenda for the day was passed amid pandamonium and slogan shouting by the entire Opposition, who demanded the government's resignation. After the day's agenda was exhausted, the House was adjourned for the day.

Mr.Suraj Bhan spoke to mediapersons after meeting the opposition leaders and said he would go through the memorandum and seek legal advise before giving his decision. Mr.Suraj Bhan is a former deputy Speaker of Lok Sabha.

Today's discomfiture of the Government, represents poor floor management by the BJP leaders. The blame squarely lies with the chief whip and Cooperative Minister, Mr. Ram Kumar Verma, who himself was absent from the House. The Chief Minister and the Speaker too were missing.

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