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Home ministry recommends revoking central rule in Bihar

George Iype in New Delhi

The Union home ministry has recommended revoking the presidential proclamation imposing Central rule in Bihar and the reinstatement of the Rashtriya Janata Dal government in the state.

Pressure from Opposition parties and the minority status of Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition in the Rajya Sabha had forced the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government to refer the controversial Bihar bill to the home ministry earlier this week.

Official sources said the ministry headed by L K Advani has suggested that the best option and course of action now would be to withdraw the Bihar resolution, considering the fact that it would any way be defeated in the Upper House.

The ministry has also reportedly recommended that if the government still plans to table the Bihar bill in the Rajya Sabha, it has to be done immediately.

The ministry's reasoning behind this argument is that if the Bihar resolution is delayed in the Upper House, the Vajpayee government will be forced to introduce the Bihar budget in the Lok Sabha. Since that is a money bill, failure to pass it in the Lower House could result in the fall of the government.

The government managers and the BJP leaders who had compelled crucial ally, Telugu Desam Party to support the Bihar motion in the Lok Sabha last week, are not confident that Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu would once again bail out the government.

In return for his support, Vajpayee had promised Naidu that the presidential proclamation would be revoked.

On Friday, other alliance leaders from the Akali Dal, the All India Anna DMK and the Biju Janata Dal, met Vajpayee and urged him to immediately nullify the Bihar resolution. The Samata Party is the only coalition partner that is insisting that the government go through the Rajya Sabha route too.

The Union Cabinet is likely to meet on Saturday to deliberate on the home ministry's recommendations and take a final decision on Bihar. The government is expected to announce its decision in Parliament on March 8.

On Saturday, armed with the home ministry recommendation, Vajpayee and Advani will also apprise the BJP's core committee of the government's decision on Bihar. Party president Kushabau Thakre has convened the core committee meeting which will also be attended by the BJP's Bihar unit chief Sushil Modi and other leaders like Pramod Mahajan, Venkaiah Naidu, Murli Manohar Joshi and Narendra Modi.

A majority of the BJP leaders, including Thakre, are of the view that the government should introduce the statutory resolution in the Upper House even though the coalition is in a minority there.

Since the Bihar issue has paralysed both the houses of Parliament in the last few days, BJP strategists said the party leadership will now give in to pressure and allow the government to withdraw the presidential proclamation on Bihar.

EARLIER REPORT:
Government to decide on ratification on March 8

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