Bhandari recommends Rabri's dismissal
Bihar Governor Sunder Singh Bhandari has declared that there is a case for invoking Article 356 of the Constitution and imposing President's rule in Bihar.
Bhandari, who flew to New Delhi from Patna yesterday to apprise Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Home Minister Lal Kishinchand Advani of the law-and-order situation in the state, told the media this morning that the prime minister had agreed with his assessment.
This means the Rabri Devi government in Patna is now on its last legs.
Advani, who was in Bombay on a day's visit, said he too had agreed with the governor's assessment of the situation in Bihar, but remained non-committal on the question of President's rule.
The developments have come at a time when President K R Narayanan is on a five-nation tour. He is expected back in New Delhi on Monday night. And Vajpayee leaves for New York on Tuesday night to address the United Nations General Assembly.
In Patna, state Parliamentary Affairs Minister Upendra Prasad Verma today moved a one-line resolution affirming confidence in the Rabri Devi government. Pandemonium promptly broke out and the house was adjourned for the second day in succession.
As Verma moved the resolution, members belonging to the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Samata Party, the Janata Dal, the Communist Party of India, the CPI-Marxist-Leninist, and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha factions rushed into the well of the house, protesting against the unexpected move. They shouted slogans demanding withdrawal of the resolution since it was not on the day's agenda, nor had it been brought to the notice of the business advisory committee.
Verma moved the resolution while the debate on the Bihar State Reorganisation Bill, 1998, seeking to form a separate Vananchal state comprising 18 districts of south Bihar, was going on.
The bill, which has been referred to the state legislature for its opinion by the President of India, was moved earlier in the day by Chief Minister Rabri Devi. Industries Minister Baidyanath Pandey initiated the debate while CPI-Marxist group leader Ramdev Verma moved an amendment to the bill, opposing the creation of a separate state.
The assembly has been convened for a special three-day session only to discuss the Vananchal bill. The house is expected to vote on the bill on Monday. The same day, the legislative council begins a three-day special session to discuss the same matter.
Verma later denied that the confidence motion was unexpected. He said he had submitted the resolution to the assembly secretariat at 0900 hours today and formally moved it when Speaker Deo Narayan Yadav asked him to do so. He said the resolution would be taken up on the date decided by the business advisory committee.
Tell us what you think of this report
|