Opposition withdraws no-trust move
against UP Speaker

The opposition in the Uttar Pradesh state assembly on Monday withdrew their no-confidence motion against Speaker Keshri Nath Tripathi.

The motion, to be taken up for voting on Tuesday, was withdrawn at the inititation of Rashtriya Kranti Party chief Kalyan Singh.

The appeal issued by Kalyan Singh said, "The institution of the assembly speaker is sacred and we must not undermine its stature," adding, "we had unanimously elected Keshri Nath Tripathi as the Speaker and we would be demeaning the high office by dragging it into any kind of controversy."

Leader of the opposition Azam Khan of the Samajwadi Party promptly responded to the appeal. "The Samajwadi Party, Congress and the RKP have unanimously decided to withdraw the no-confidence notice against the speaker," he said.

Khan added, "I was quite pained in bringing the no-confidence motion against the speaker, whom we had elected as a unanimous choice, but then there were certain issues that compelled us to do so and yet we could not ignore the appeal by a senior leader like Kalyan Singh."

Khan also hoped that Tripathi would not repeat any such acts that would prompt members to raise questions or complain against him.

He said, "In any case, the speaker was not our main target; we have larger objectives to fulfil and we are confident of doing so by upholding the traditions of healthy parliamentary practices."

Political observers however see the decision as a major 'climb-down' for the opposition, simply because they had failed to muster up enough strength to carry the motion.