The Uttar Pradesh Legislature is on Thursday night all set to create history of sorts by holding 36-hour-long uninterrupted sessions of both Houses amidst a boycott by rival parties, even as some of their MLAs chose to attend the proceedings.
The simultaneous sittings witnessed Aditi Singh (Congress), Shivpal Yadav (Samajwadi Party) and Aslam Raini (BSP) come out against their respective party’s decision of staying away and address the House.Two others, including Nitin Agarwal (SP) and Anil Singh (BSP), who have already switched sides but technically continue to be members of their respective parties, attended the proceedings.
UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who had on Wednesday flayed the Opposition for its boycott, terming it not just an "insult" to the Father of the Nation but also a "contempt" of the House, continued his attack on Thursday, saying they don’t have faith in "democratic values" and ideologies of Mahatma Gandhi.
The 36-hour special session of the Uttar Pradesh legislature to mark the 150th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi began at 11 am on Wednesday.
"The Opposition is boycotting the special session organised to mark the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. They are those who don’t have faith in democratic values and ideologies of Mahatma Gandhi," Adityanath said in his address in the UP Legislative Council on Thursday.
The chief minister had addressed the assembly on Wednesday.
He charged that for the Opposition, "power" is a medium for "vyaktigat loot khasoot" (personal loot) and has nothing to do with public welfare.
The chief minister, who was in the assembly till 1 am on Thursday, highlighted the works done by his government to achieve sustainable development goals.
"In our government, the incentives are now performance-based. Those who work will be taken care of and those who don’t are kept on our radar," he said.
Nearly 100 BJP members were in the House overnight as part of the special session. The Uttar Pradesh Assembly has a total strength of 403.