Rebel BSP MLAs seek separate seats in UP Assembly

Lucknow, Feb 18 (IANS) Nine rebel Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MLAs on Thursday met the Uttar Pradesh Assembly Speaker, Hriday Narain Dixit, and sought a separate seating arrangement for themselves in the House.Rebel BSP MLA Aslam Raini told reporters that their strength was now greater than the BSP strength."We are now nine while the BSP is left with only six MLAs," he said.The rebel MLAs claimed that they were not invited for the legislature party meeting held on Wednesday night.It may be recalled that last year during the biennial Rajya Sabha elections, BSP chief Mayawati had suspended seven party legislators for 'hobnobbing' with the Samajwadi Party."We will take a decision soon regarding our future," said Raini.The rebel MLAs are Asam Raini, Aslam Ali, Mujtaba Siddiqui, Hakim Lal Bind, Har Govind Bhargava, Sushma Patel, Vandana Singh, Anil Singh and Ramvir Upadhyay.The Speaker said he would study the matter before giving his decision.

--IANS amita/dpb