LUCKNOW, January 19: Although the Election Commission (EC) may force the Uttar Pradesh Government to rescind its order appointing five Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MLAs as chairmen of various corporations, Chief Minister Kalyan Singh seems to have achieved his primary objective of luring BSP MLAs to defect by offering prized posts as baits.This is not the first time that Kalyan has invoked the EC's anger. Earlier, after the announcement of the Lok Sabha elections, he had effected a large-scale bureaucratic reshuffle. This was followed by the announcement of grants worth Rs 250 crore only five days before the Vidhan Parishad polls.Although he has bowed down to the EC's wishes each time, he seems to have achieved his purpose. Earlier, the State Government rescinded its order issuing grants to local bodies after the EC found it to be a ploy to influence voters. However, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) achieved unexpected success at the hustings.Speaking to The Indian Express a fortnight before the polls, Kalyan had hoped for a maximum of 22-23 out of the total 39 Council seats. On the other hand, his principal adversary, Mulayam Singh Yadav, had predicted a tally of at least 30 seats for his party. But while the BJP bagged 26 seats, the SP only got 11.Although Opposition parties accused the BJP of large-scale rigging, they secretly admitted that Kalyan's decision to announce grants at the ``appropriate'' time helped the BJP win over Samajwady Party (SP) voters.Voters for the Council polls comprise panchayat chiefs, who were elected during Mulayam's rule amid allegations of large-scale irregularities. Therefore, most of the one lakh-odd voters were expected to be loyal to SP.Despite his grudge against the EC for rescinding the order appointing BSP MLAs as corporation chairmen, Kalyan is expected to follow the order. But, he has once again succeeded in sending his message across to BSP legislators.Kalyan is especially eager to engineer defections of BSP MLAs as the Assembly session is scheduled to begin from January 27. The ``unethical defection'' of the 13 BSP MLAs who had earlier left their party is likely to be discussed then. With five more BSP MLAs joining the BJP government since then, Kalyan needs only five more legislators to avoid violation of the anti-defection law.``We have made our intentions clear to the BSP fence-sitters. Let the EC stop them if they want to come and support the Kalyan Singh government,'' challenged a State BJP office-bearer.
