Lucknow, May 28 (IANS) The Uttar Pradesh assembly, which Monday met for the first time since the Samajwadi Party (SP) came to power, was adjourned for the day after BSP members created a bedlam, tearing papers, hurling paper balls at Governor B.L. Joshi and shouting slogans against the government.
New Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav kept smiling as he watched the Bahujan Samaj Party legislators disrupt the proceedings, forcing Speaker Mata Prasad Pandey to adjourn the house first for an hour and then till Tuesday.
The adjournment followed acrimonious scenes as Joshi began reading out a prepared speech.
BSP legislators immediately trooped towards the speaker's chair, shouting slogans against the two-month-old Samajwadi Party government.
Spearheading the bedlam was Swamy Prasad Maurya, leader of the opposition and a close Mayawati aide.
As BSP members stood atop chairs carrying banners and shouting slogans, Maurya charged the government with running a "transfer industry" and added that the state was in the grip of mafia Raj.
Some legislators snatched official papers and tore them up. In the melee, many fell down. The BSP members wore caps made of banners, in the blue colour of the party. A few unfurled the cloth banners.
Following the ruckus, the speaker adjourned the house till 12.30 p.m. And then, after failing to restore peace, for the entire day.
Maurya defended the action of his colleagues, claiming his party was doing what had been mandated to them by the people.
"This government is a government of mafias and we cannot allow it to plunder the state in the name of transfers," Maurya said.
He alleged that the government had failed on all fronts, including wheat procurement, law and order and in improving the plight of farmers.
Akhilesh Yadav had Sunday asked all parties to cooperate to run the house for a longer period than in the past.
On June 1, Akhilesh Yadav, who also holds the finance portfolio, will present his maiden budget.
The Samajwadi Party has 224 members in the 403-strong house. The BSP has 85 members and is the main opposition party.
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