UP chief minister Mayawati has written a letter to President Pratibha Patil seeking the dismissal of the Haryana government.
The chief minister, in her letter, has said that the Haryana government was responsible for rising cases of atrocities against dalits, who were also being denied voting rights in the recent panchayat elections in Haryana.
“It is unfortunate that even after 62 years of independence, the Haryana government is not able to ensure voting rights to dalits and therefore it has no right to continue in power,” the chief minister has said in the letter. Referring to another case in Hissar district of Haryana where 30 houses of dalits were allegedly set ablaze, Ms Mayawati said that people, especially those belonging to Balmiki caste, were forced to flee from their homes. She added that more than 40 members of the community were injured in violence during the polls.
Ms Mayawati pointed that the situation in Haryana had deteriorated to such an extent that the top court had to intervene for ensuring security of dalits.
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Maya local body move irks Opp
Age correspondent
Lucknow
June 9: Opposition parties in Uttar Pradesh have taken strong exception to efforts being made by the Mayawati government to amend the rules for elections to local bodies and pave the way for indirect elections to mayoral posts.
While UPCC president Rita Bahuguna Joshi sent a letter to the UP chief minister asking her to withdraw the gazette issued in this regard. Ms Joshi said that freezing of party symbols for the local bodies’ polls and indirect election of the mayor would allow mafia to rule the local bodies. “The amendment is against the democratic principles of the local bodies,” she wrote.
The Samajwadi Party spokesman Rajendra Choudhury also issued a statement saying that the amendments proved that the BSP had no faith in democratic processes.