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BJP tells government to table Bihar resolution in Rajya Sabha

George Iype in New Delhi

Even as the Opposition led by the Congress stalled both Houses of Parliament on Thursday demanding the immediate tabling of the Bihar bill in the Rajya Sabha, the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government is caught in a bind.

Opinion within the Bharatiya Janata Party and the coalition government is sharply divided over the advisability of tabling the proclamation in the Rajya Sabha.

A majority of the BJP leaders, including party president Shasikant 'Kushabhau' Thakre, have demanded that the government should introduce the statutory resolution in the Upper House even though the coalition is in a crippling minority there.

Thakre, who held a special meeting of party general secretaries in New Delhi on Thursday, recommended to Prime Minister Vajpayee that tabling the Bihar motion in the Rajya Sabha was the best course of action to expose the double standards and anti-dalit credentials of the Congress.

"The BJP leadership and the Vajpayee government do not regret the decision to sack the Rabri Devi government. We still feel that on the grounds of morality and law and order, the Rabri regime does not have a right to be back in Bihar," BJP general secretary Narendra Modi told Rediff On The NeT.

Leaders like Modi feel that the BJP leadership prefers to have the presidential proclamation tabled in the Upper House. "We know we are in a minority. But a debate in the Rajya Sabha will expose the Congress's double-talk on Bihar," the BJP leader added.

But the dominant view within the Union Cabinet is that revoking the Presidential proclamation and reinstating the Rashtriya Janata Dal government in Bihar is the ideal option, given the compulsions of the coalition partners.

Telugu Desam Party president and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu agreed to bail out the Vajpayee government in the Lok Sabha last week on the condition that the Union Cabinet should revoke central rule.

Naidu and other alliance partners like the Akali Dal and Trinamul Congress are insisting that the government should immediately withdraw the Bihar resolution, as the issue is embarrassing the government.

While both Vajpayee and Home Minister L K Advani are said to be in favour of revoking the Bihar bill, they want to delay it till April 12 for two reasons. One, reinstating the Rabri Devi regime after the two-month stipulated time-frame gives enough room to the central government to dismantle the police and administrative apparatus controlled by RJD president Laloo Prasad Yadav in Bihar.

Second, Vajpayee's key coalition partner, Samata Party chief and Defence Minister George Fernandes has promised that his party could split the RJD and form an alternative government in Bihar. It was at the Samata leader's behest that the Cabinet decided to sack the Bihar government. Though splitting RJD would suit the BJP, many believe it is a difficult task as the Samata Party needs at least 50 RJD MLAs to form an alternative government in Bihar.

Samata leaders and the BJP's legal cell have been urging the Cabinet to file a writ petition in the Supreme Court for a new interpretation of the S R Bommai judgment on imposing President's rule in states.

But official sources said both Vajpayee and Advani are not in favour of this move as a rejection by the apex court would considerably embarrass the government.

BJP leaders from Bihar are expected to arrive in Delhi on Friday to meet Thakre and Vajpayee. But as the flashpoint on Bihar is expected any time, the Vajpayee government is getting restive thanks to Bihar Governor Sunder Singh Bhandari.

Bhandari has informed the government's managers and the BJP leadership that he would resign if the Centre revoked the Presidential proclamation without tabling it in the Rajya Sabha.

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