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Sharat Pradhan in Lucknow
In an obvious bid to frustrate the Samajwadi Party's much touted anti-government demonstrations in Uttar Pradesh on Monday, Chief Minister Mayawati ordered a crackdown on several local leaders of the party late on Sunday night.
The police have picked up some key local Samajwadi Party leaders on the suspicion of planning to organise large-scale violence and disruption of peace. More preventive arrests were likely to follow later, sources said.
The Samajwadi Party proposes to stage a demonstration before Lucknow's Raj Bhawan in pursuance of their demand for dismissal of the Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party and Bhartiya Janata Party coalition.
"The governor had acted in a highly partisan manner by turning a deaf ear to our demand, hence we also propose to raise the demand for his recall," Samajwadi Party state general secretary Shiv Pal Singh Yadav told reporters in Lucknow.
In view of intelligence reports the Lucknow district administration, in a late night move, also ordered the closure of several educational institutions situated close to the governor's house.
"We have ordered closure of these schools only to save the students from inconvenience as several traffic restrictions have been imposed around Raj Bhawan," district magistrate Navneet Sehgal said.
Given the heavy police deployment, it was quite apparent that the government was preparing itself for all contingencies. As many as 13 companies of the Provincial Armed Constabulary and three companies of the Rapid Action Force have already been requisitioned to assist the local police in maintaining law and order.
Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and national general secretary Amar Singh are expected to lead the demonstration.
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