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Advani at loggerheads with Narayanan

George Iype in New Delhi

The Sarkaria Commission recommendations on Centre-state relations have become a major point of contention between President K R Narayanan and the Union Home Minister L K Advani.

The controversy centres around the President's rejection of the Union Cabinet proposal last week to axe the Rabri Devi government by invoking Article 356 of the Constitution.

Home ministry sources said Advani is of the opinion that Narayanan "erred" when he dismissed the Cabinet decision on Bihar by basing his arguments on the Sarkaria Commission recommendations on Centre-state relations.

"The Sarkaria Commission recommendations lack validity as Parliament is yet to approve them. Therefore, the home minister feels that it was improper on the President's part to reject the Cabinet decision by quoting its proposals," a senior ministry official told Rediff On The NeT.

He said the President has extensively quoted from the Sarkaria Commission report in his six-page letter addressed to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee when he returned the Cabinet proposal to sack the Bihar government.

The official said the ministry is also of the view that Narayanan was "ill-advised by legal and constitutional experts" to present the deliberations of the Sarkaria report as well as the inter-state council's discussions as reasons for returning the Cabinet recommendation.

Quoting the Sarkaria Commission report, the President's letter said: "Article 356 should be used very sparingly, in extreme cases, as a measure of last resort, when all available alternatives fail to prevent a breakdown of constitutional machinery. All attempts should be made to resolve the crisis at the state level before taking recourse to the provisions of Article 356."

Narayanan also pointed out that Bihar Governor Sunder Singh Bhandari acted in a partisan manner. One of the basic complaints against "politician governors" like Bhandari received by Justice Sarkaria Commission was that "they are unable to shed their political inclinations, predilections and prejudices while dealing with different political parties within the state".

In his letter to the prime minister, the President also called for information under Article 78 relating to law and order situation, economic situation and corruption other states which are stated to be having similar problems as in Bihar.

"If the President's letter is to be taken seriously, it will be impossible now for the government to act in emergency situations, especially in imposing central rule in states," said an official.

While Advani did not mention these anomalies in the letter to the President when he met him on Tuesday, sources said the home ministry and the Union cabinet also do not agree with the President's query on the Bharatiya Janata Party's lack of support in Rajya Sabha to pass the Presidential notification.

Officials said the home ministry pushed the case to dismiss the Bihar government on the deteriorating law and order situation in the state. "The law and order machinery in Bihar is practically dead. But it is unfortunate that the President did not feel the anarchy that is prevailing in Bihar," an official remarked.

Advani, who chaired a meeting of senior ministry officials on Wednesday, discussed the fall-out of the President's letter and reportedly termed it "an intrusion into the government at the Centre".

While the BJP leaders led by Advani have demanded a national debate on the use and misuse of Article 356 in the light of the latest exercise of Presidential discretion, Rashtrapati Bhavan officials argued that Narayanan's judgement on Bihar was not based on the Sarkaria Commission report.

"The President has the right to quote the Sarkaria Commission report to make his point very clear to the Union Cabinet. But his final judgement came from his own conviction that there was no constitutional breakdown in Bihar as accused by the central government," an official close to Narayanan told Rediff On The NeT.

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