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Government ready to thrown in the towel on Bihar

George Iype in New Delhi

Faced with the prospect of a defeat in the Rajya Sabha, the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government is exploring the possibility of letting the Presidential proclamation imposing Central rule in Bihar lapse on April 12.

Having won the Bihar motion in the Lok Sabha last Friday, the government is now certain that it does not have the requisite numbers to push the motion in the Upper House thanks to the Congress's decision to oppose President's rule in the state.

Bharatiya Janata Party leaders, who compelled the Telugu Desam Party to support the statutory resolution in the Lok Sabha, said all the allies except the Samata Party, want the government either to revoke central rule in Bihar or let it lapse.

TDP president and Andhra Pardesh Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu is said to have agreed to support the Bihar motion in the Lower House after Prime Minister Vajpayee gave him a categorical assurance that the government would restore the Rabri Devi regime.

Naidu, who has been campaigning against the use of Article 356 to dismiss elected state governments, relented and bailed out the Vajpayee coalition at the last minute on the condition that the Union Cabinet revoke Central rule in Bihar.

"We do not want to precipitate matters on Bihar as we are sure we cannot win in the Rajya Sabha. Therefore, the government is seriously thinking of automatically revoking President's rule in Bihar," one BJP leader said.

He said the government will not take up the resolution in the Rajya Sabha and let it lapse at the end of 60 days, ie, April 12. The Union Cabinet will take the crucial decision regarding this before March 18 as Parliament goes in for recess from that day to April 12.

Prime Minister Vajpayee, Home Minister L K Advani and BJP president Kushabhau Thakre discussed the strategy to be adopted on Bihar on Sunday. While the government does not have any other options, they are believed to be willing to nullify the presidential proclamation on Bihar. But the key alliance partner, Samata Party, has stiffly opposed any move to revoke the resolution.

Top Samata Party leaders Defence Minister George Fernandes and Railway Minister Nitish Kumar, who were the prime movers behind imposing President's rule in Bihar, want the government to go in for public interest litigation in the Supreme Court on the issue.

Samata leaders, after consulting with constitutional experts, have suggested to Vajpayee and Advani that there are a few gray areas in the Bommai judgment that the government can exploit. They have insisted that a PIL would enable the government to get a presidential reference from the apex court under Article 143 of the Constitution.

But most BJP allies are for revocation of President's rule as it would help them evade the embarrassment of going through a debate on Bihar and a defeat in the Rajya Sabha once again.

BJP vice president J P Mathur said the government was considering all options on Bihar, including legal action. "We are not ready for the return of the corrupt and inefficient Rabri government in Bihar. Therefore, we will fight the Congress party and the Rashtriya Janata Dal legally," he told Rediff On The Net.

Mathur said a legal team was exploring the possibility of loopholes in the Bommai verdict on invoking Article 356 to dismiss a state government, and should come up with a decision by March 18.

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