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Thakre uses fodder scam to justify action in Bihar

Bharatiya Janata Party president Shashikant 'Kushabhau' Thakre today justified the Centre's decision to keep the Bihar assembly in "suspended animation" while recommending that the state government be dismissed. He said this had to be done in view of the Supreme Court's ruling in the S R Bommai case.

Bihar is the fittest case for invoking Article 356 of the Constitution, he told reporters in Pune. People in government had even looted the treasury, he said, citing the Rs 100 billion fodder scandal. He said the government had been hindering the investigation into the scandal and even the Patna high court had observed that an independent inquiry could not be conducted as long as it remained in power.

Asked what would happen if the President rejected the Centre's advice because Chief Minister Rabri Devi had proved her majority in the assembly, he shot back, "Why do you think so?"

Asked if the Centre would take a similar view on demands to invoke Article 356 elsewhere, Thakre said it would be used only in "very exceptional cases".

The BJP chief said all major political parties were against the Rashtriya Janata Dal continuing in power, but had changed their stance for political compulsions.

Asked about Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's announcement at the United Nations that India will sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty by September 1999, Thakre said the party and the government both felt the treaty is discriminatory. Vajpayee had probably got indications that India's objections to the treaty would be taken care of, he said.

UNI

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