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President in no hurry to act on Cabinet's recommendation

Tara Shanker Sahay in New Delhi

The chances of an early imposition of central rule in Bihar receded today, with President K R Narayanan telling Opposition leaders that he was not in a hurry in the matter.

According to senior Congress leader Sharad Pawar, who led a five-member delegation to Rashtrapati Bhavan in a bid to persuade Narayanan not to impose President's rule in Bihar, the latter told the delegation that he was not in a hurry to take a decision.

Pawar said his party pleaded with the President to ensure that Article 356 of the Constitution was not misused and that he should send back the Union Cabinet's recommendation invoking Article 356 in Bihar as he had done earlier when he had returned the Gujral government's recommendation to impose central rule in Uttar Pradesh.

With Narayanan letting it be known that he was in no hurry to act, parties opposed to central rule in Bihar appear to have got more time to hone their strategy. The Rashtriya Loktantrik Morcha is scheduled to meet the President tomorrow in a bid to oppose central rule in Bihar.

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