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Government looking for ways to get out of Bihar hole

George Iype in New Delhi

With defeat certain in the Rajya Sabha and the law-and-order situation in Bihar worsening, the Union Cabinet today debated several options to wriggle out of the presidential proclamation imposing central rule in the state.

But the Congress upped the ante, demanding that the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government table immediately in the Rajya Sabha the statutory resolution to ratify the imposition of President's rule.

In a fresh outbreak of caste clashes, activists of the People's War Group shot dead four members of the Ranvir Sena at Bhimpura village in Jehanabad district last night.

Having got the Bihar resolution adopted in the Lok Sabha last week, the Cabinet on Wednesday discussed three options for the Rajya Sabha where it is in a hopeless minority.

First, to go ahead and suffer a defeat in the Upper House. Second, to revoke the presidential proclamation or let it lapse after the stipulated two-month deadline for its ratification passes on April 12. Third, to refer the matter to the Supreme Court for a re-interpretation of the provision demanding parliamentary ratification of President's rule within 60 days.

After a two-hour meeting, Information and Broadcasting Minister Pramod Mahajan said the ministries of home and law would decide on the strategy to be adopted.

While the government seems to be prolonging a decision owing to pressure from the Bharatiya Janata Party leadership and the Samata Party, a crucial component of the ruling coalition, Prime Minister Vajpayee is said to have expressed his desire to revoke President's rule.

Rashtrapati Bhawan officials said Vajpayee and Home Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani met President K R Narayanan on Monday for more than an hour to discuss the hurdles relating to Bihar.

Since the President did not question the Cabinet's second recommendation for central rule in Bihar, the government is caught in a spot, as it has to convince Narayanan of the need to now nullify the proclamation.

Most coalition partners do not want the government to table the resolution in the Upper House. They would rather have the President's order revoked or allow it to lapse. They believe revocation of President's rule will help them evade the embarrassment of going through a debate and defeat on the subject in the Rajya Sabha.

The Cabinet is expected to take the crucial decision before March 18 as Parliament takes a break from March 18 to April 12.

But BJP leaders said the party's legal cell and the Samata Party are of the view that the government should file a writ petition in the Supreme Court seeking a new interpretation of the law on ratification of President's rule as it stands after the S R Bommai judgment.

According to legal expert and BJP national executive member Ravi Shankar Prasad, there are a few gray areas in the Bommai verdict, which are relevant in Bihar's case.

"Since Bihar is a fit case for central rule, the Supreme Court can explore whether the President's proclamation can be a valid one as it has already been approved by the Lok Sabha," Prasad told Rediff On The NeT.

While the home and law ministries are expected to decide soon on the legal and constitutional implications of filing a writ petition, more killings in the state have added to the momentum of the Congress campaign to bring back the Rashtriya Janata Dal government.

"Yesterday's killings have proved that President's rule has failed to curb the caste violence in Bihar," Congress Working Committee member Ahmed Patel told Rediff On The NeT. "The Vajpayee government's claims that central rule has helped to control killings in Bihar have been exposed."

Therefore, Patel said, the Congress will press for the immediate introduction of the Bihar resolution in the Rajya Sabha so that the state government can be reinstated as early as possible.

The Bihar state page

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