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Centre will recommend Rabri's dismissal after poll

George Iype in New Delhi

Having failed in its mission to sack the Rabri Devi government, the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government is now toying with a plan to recommend the imposition of President's rule in Bihar for the second time.

Compelled by the number of reports that Bihar Governor Sunder Singh Bhandari has submitted to the home ministry, Home Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani has asked Home Secretary B P Singh to build a case for the dismissal of the Rabri Devi government.

Ministry sources said Advani wants action against the Rashtriya Janata Dal government soon after the state assembly election scheduled for November 25.

But before the Union Cabinet forwards the crucial second recommendation to President K R Narayanan, the Vajpayee government will issue a stern warning to the Rabri regime for cultivating mafia raj in Bihar.

As a precursor to the move, on Wednesday, Bhandari met Vajpayee and Advani in the capital and submitted to them an updated report on the deteriorating law and order situation in the state. Detailing facts and figures, the latest report terms Bihar as a mafia-infested state.

Bhandari has told the prime minister and home minister that President's rule should be imposed in Bihar at the earliest as the state has slipped into lawlessness and anarchy.

Officials said the home ministry has already advised the government to exercise its powers under Article 256 and 257 of the Constitution to issue a warning to the Rabri government.

When Narayanan returned the Union Cabinet's proposal to sack the Bihar government in September, he had particularly quoted the recommendations of the Sarkaria Commission and the Supreme Court judgment in the S R Bommai case to argue that the Centre should have issued a formal warning to the state government.

According to the Bommai case verdict, "a warning should be issued to the errant state in specific terms that it is not carrying on the government in accordance with the Constitution."

"We are building up the case against Bihar with extreme caution as the government is bent on convincing the President on the need for central rule in the state," a home ministry official associated with the Bihar operation told Rediff On The NeT.

He said it is also likely that Vajpayee and Advani would informally consult Narayanan and take him into confidence about the letter of warning to be issued to the Rabri government before the Cabinet formally puts in a request to axe Chief Minister Rabri Devi.

"But our Bihar offensive is expected only after the assembly election, as the government doesn't want to precipitate a Centre-state crisis during the polls," the official said, adding that the ministry is "meticulously examining all the loose-ends before recommending President's rule in the state."

The Rashtriya Janata Dal had received overwhelming support from major Opposition parties like the Congress, the Left Front and the Janata Dal for invoking Article 356 of the Constitution to dismiss the Rabri government.

He said the Centre's warning to the Bihar government will be an ultimatum to cleanse the state of mafia elements, criminals and anti-socials and improve the law and order situation within a specified time. The warning would also state that failure to implement the Centre's directive would lead to the dismissal of the Rabri government and imposition of President's rule.

Officials believe the Vajpayee government's move to axe the RJD government would succeed this time as it comes in the wake of a series of killings in the state in recent weeks.

The Centre also places much hope on the recent Patna high court judgment that indicted the Rabri government as "jungle raj."

While the home ministry will be ready with the warning letter soon, the Vajpayee government is on the horns of a dilemma over dissolving the Bihar assembly.

In September, when the Cabinet recommended President's rule, it also urged Narayanan to put the Bihar assembly in suspended animation. But while returning the recommendation, the President had also questioned the rationale behind the proposal to keep the state assembly in suspended animation.

EARLIER REPORT:

Bhandari asks Centre to issue directive under Article 355 to Bihar government
Governor Bhandari submits fresh report on law and order
Cabinet drops move to sack Rabri Devi

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