Rabri not out of the jungle yet
as George repeats threat
Defence Minister George Fernandes, president of the Samata Party, has said the Centre's taciturn attitude on Bihar should not be construed as an abdication of its responsibility to the people of the
"beleaguered" state.
Talking to reporters in Patna last evening, Fernandes, who did not rule out the possibility of sending a fresh recommendation to the President to dismiss the Rabri Devi government, said, "The subject is closed for the time being, but not for good."
He justified the Centre's decision to recommend President's rule in Bihar last month, saying the law of the jungle prevails in the state and even the Patna High Court had reprimanded the administration many times.
He said the Union Cabinet did not send the recommendation again to the President in deference to his wishes. "I do not want to pass judgement on the judgement of the President," he said.
Fernandes said the President returned the recommendation on two considerations -- that the proposal to dismiss Rabri Devi had not been okayed by both houses of Parliament and the Supreme Court had decreed that a state assembly could not be dissolved without Parliament's approval.
He said the Centre was confident of getting the support of all political parties, including the Congress, to its proposal for invocation of Article 356 in Bihar, but that did not happen. The Congress, he said, wanted the people of the state to suffer the "jungle raj".
UNI
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