Mayawati submits resignation, Mulayam stakes claim in UP

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Tuesday handed over her resignation letter to Governor Vishnu Kant Shastri.

Earlier in the day, Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav had met the governor and staked claim to form a government in Uttar Pradesh even as the Bharatiya Janata Party announced that it would not take any initiative in this regard.

"I have requested the governor to invite the Samajwadi Party to form the next government as we are the single largest party in the UP assembly," he told mediapersons in Lucknow after meeting Shastri. "We will prove pour majority on the floor of the House."

"It would absolutely unfair and unconstitutional to put the state under President's rule. We will oppose any move to dissolve the state assembly as any fresh election would mean an undue burden on the people of the state," he said.

On Tuesday morning, the BJP Parliamentary Board reviewed the situation in the state following Chief Minister Mayawati's decision to recommend dissolution of the assembly and sever ties with the BJP, her coalition partner.

The BJP accused the BSP leader of 'breach of trust' pointing to her taking such a major decision (to dissolve the assembly) without taking allies into confidence.