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Sonia ends silence, opposes Rabri's dismissal

Congress president Sonia Gandhi today described as "unconstitutional and politically motivated" the Union Cabinet's recommendation to impose President's rule in Bihar. She said the situation in the state did not warrant the step.

"We are totally against the Centre's arbitrary decision," Gandhi told reporters after her visit to a flood relief camp at Lalgola in Murshidabad district of West Bengal.

"It has been done with a political motive. We condemn it ... it is totally unconstitutional and undemocratic to impose Article 356 in the name of breakdown of law and order," she added.

But Union Home Minister Lal Kishinchand Advani asserted in New Delhi that the Cabinet was not guided by political considerations and its decision was based on the governor's report.

He said the government was not unduly worried at the President taking his time to react. "We have no problem," he said.

Meanwhile, former prime minister Chandra Shekhar has objected strongly to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's statement that the Centre could invoke Article 356 even if the Rabri Devi government enjoyed the assembly's support.

He said it was surprising that a party that had all along been saying that the majority must be tested on the floor of the House should make such a U-turn.

In a letter to President K R Narayanan, he said the country now looked to him to ensure "more sane and responsible functioning at this level".

Veteran parliamentarian Madhu Dandavate criticised the manner in which the government had taken the decision to recommended President's rule, saying it constituted a grave breach of norms.

In a statement in Bombay, Professor Dandavate also castigated Governor Sunder Singh Bhandari for not maintaining the confidentiality of his report to the President. According to Article 356, only the Centre can take a decision on the governor's report. So Bhandari's statement even before submitting his report, that the stage had come to use Article 356, was improper, he said.

In Lucknow, Rashtriya Loktantrik Morcha (National Democratic Front) president Mulayam Singh Yadav expressed confidence that the President would not consent to the Centre's decision.

He said the meeting of a delegation of Opposition leaders with the President on September 22 had given them hope that K R Narayanan would not approve the "arbitrary" recommendation.

Yadav said the Centre's arguments for imposing President's rule were a bundle of lies. Hereafter, he said, it would be difficult for any state government that did not have a share at the Centre to survive.

UNI

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