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AGENCIES
LUCKNOW, NOV 29: With the prospects of expulsion from BJP staring at him, former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Kalyan Singh today threatened to topple the Ram Prakash Gupta ministry in the state and fired a fresh salvo against Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee even as the chief minister ruled out threat to his government.
Singh claimed the support of sufficient number of BJP MLAs and said he was in a position to topple the Gupta government and said a mid-term assembly poll in the state was imminent.
"MLAs in enough number are with me and I can topple the state government whenever I decide to do so," he said while addressing his supporters here.However, there was no tangible show of support for Singh as only two MLAs Kailash Rajput and Preetam Ram were present among his supporters. Moreover, two leaders considered to be Kalyan loyalistsleader of BJP legislature group in Legislative Council Vindhya Vasini Kumar and state cabinet Minister Shiva Kant Ojhacame out openly against the former chiefminister.
Kumar and Ojha justified suspension of Kalyan singh and ruled out split in the party in its wake.
In a boost to the BJP high command, coalition partners of Gupta ministry also declared their support for the Chief Minister saying they had aligned with the party and not with any individual.
On his part, Kalyan Singh stepped up tirade against Vajpayee and alleged "Atalji encouraged factionalism in the state unit for the past 10 months by embracing my detractors and humiliated me from public platforms" and said "if this was not indiscipline what is the definition of indiscipline."
Charging Vajpayee with personally encouraging party MLAs to revolt against him, Singh mentioned different instances when he alleged the former had "publicly humiliated" him.
"Is undermining the authority of party Chief Minister not an act of indiscipline?" Singh said.
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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