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UF, Congress flay despatch of Central teams

The United Front has vowed to fight tooth and nail any move to dismiss state governments in order to appease the disparate Bharatiya Janata Party allies.

Addressing the media, UF spokesperson Jaipal Reddy questioned the despatch of Central teams to select states, and said the government should specify under which constitutional provisions home ministry officials were sent to West Bengal, Bihar and Tamil Nadu.

Law and order was a state subject, and the "bureaucratic minions" had no right to discuss the matter strictly concerning the states. ''The states are equally sovereign as the Centre and are not at the mercy of the Centre,'' he said.

He termed as ''unconstitutional'' that a team of officials who were not qualified to become personal secretaries of chief ministers and governors, could make queries from authorities about law and order. Protocol-wise, the cabinet secretary was junior to a member of Parliament and the government must realise this, he added.

Describing the BJP-led coalition as the ''weakest'' ever government the country had seen, he said its flexing of muscles only demonstrated its weakness and not strength. ''We condemn all demands for imposing President's rule using Article 356, and no party was an exception even if it were to be a UF constituent,'' he declared.

Reddy recalled that the UF government had set up an inter-state council which unanimously resolved not to invoke Article 356 excepting in war. ''I wish to remind all that BJP chief ministers were privy to this decision,'' he said.

The UF spokesman said no Central team would be able to give an objective report on the law and order situation, "especially after the public reprimanding of home ministry special secretary Ashok Kumar and his subsequent punishment transfer for failing to submit his report on the law and order situation in Tamil Nadu to Home Minister L K Advani's liking.''

The Centre, Reddy said, should realise that the constitutional situation had undergone a qualitative change after the nine-member Supreme Court constitutional bench's order in the S R Bommai case. Unity and integrity of the nation would be in peril if the federal character of the country was not protected, he added.

He said Central teams were sent whenever there was a boycott by Trinamul Congress or a walkout by the AIADMK. But a team could be sent to Patna without anybody asking for it, he remarked.

What was strange about this government was the Cabinet ministers airing their demands for dismissal in public instead of convincing their ministerial colleagues.

Reddy also took exception to the statements of Bihar Governor Sundar Singh Bhandari on the law and order situation in the state. Bhandari, he said, was a known member of the Sangh Parivar and his views on the situation were known to people much before his pronouncements.

Reddy recalled that when the UF was in power it never despatched any Central team to Maharashtra to study the aftermath of the anti-dalit riots in Bombay. It also did not demand a team for Rajasthan when there were allegations of failure of the state government in preventing atrocities on women, although it condemned the inaction.

On the demand from the Bihar CPI-M to impose President's rule in the state, the spokesman said, the UF went "by the views of the national leadership". ''Federalism works, therefore, the state unit is talking on different lines,'' he quipped.

On the visit by a Left party team to Ayodhya, Reddy said, ''The on-the-spot assessment will have a ring of authenticity which would be useful for raising the issue in Parliament when it meets after recess.''

Echoing similar sentiments, Congress spokesman Salman Khursheed regretted that at the instance of some allies of the BJP, Central teams were being deputed to the states being run by non-BJP parties. The move would only weaken the federal structure, Khursheed added

Asked to comment on the reported demand made by Congress Working Committee member Pranab Mukherjee for dismissal of the West Bengal government, Khursheed said it was for the CWC to take a decision on the issue.

UNI

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