September 06, 2003 18:43 IST
The Bahujan Samaj Party in Uttar Pradesh on Saturday split, with 37 members of the legislative assembly forming a separate outfit, the Loktantrik BSP.
They pledged support to Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, who will seek a trust vote on September 8.
All the 37 MLAs, led by Rajendra Singh Rana, met assembly Speaker Kesrinath Tripathi and submitted a letter seeking recognition.
Samajwadi Party national general secretary Amar Singh and state general secretary Shivpal Singh Yadav accompanied the breakaway MLAs, who do not invite disqualification because they constitute one-third of the 111-member BSP legislature party.
The breakaway group also gave a letter to the speaker seeking merger of the LBSP with the Samajwadi Party.
Rana later said his party would support Samajwadi Party during the trust vote.
He claimed six more BSP legislators had pledged support to the breakaway group through signed letters, but somehow could not approach the speaker personally.
