BJP resigned to RS defeat on Bihar imbroglio

NEW DELHI, MARCH 5: With legal and financial imperatives which the Government had earlier overlooked now coming to the fore, the BJP is running out of the many options it had on Bihar at the beginning of the week. The Government is now set to bring the Bihar proclamation to the Rajya Sabha early next week and is getting ready for a defeat in the Upper House.The dominant opinion at a meeting Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee had with the allies today was that the Government should bring the motion for Central rule in Bihar before the Upper House for ratification soon. Except the Akali Dal, which argued for immediate revocation of President’s Rule, all the allies favoured going to the Rajya Sabha. The TDP was not present.The Prime Minister is expected to reveal the Government’s mind on Monday when he speaks on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s address in Rajya Sabha.

The Congress had yesterday queered the pitch for the BJP by pointing out that the Bihar budget had to be passed before March 31 andfailure to do so would lead to a constitutional and financial crisis in the state. There has been only one case so far when the financial bill in a state was passed by an ordinance — it was in Assam in 1980. At that time the financial bill was being debated but because of turmoil in the House it could not be passed by the midnight of March 31.

Today P Shiv Shankar of the Congress took the argument a step further. He said Parliament had no right to pass the state budget as long as the Assembly was in suspended animation and, therefore, alive. This right accrued to Parliament only after the Assembly was dissolved. The Bommai Bihar problemÃ?judgement had forbidden dissolution of the Assembly till both houses of Parliament had given their approval, he pointed out. He even questioned the legality of Parliament taking up the budget for Goa because President’s Rule in the state had not been ratified by both houses.

Yesterday Pranab Mukherji had argued that the Bihar budget — or more likely a vote on accountto release funds for the state after the end of the financial year — could not be passed without the ratification of Article 356 by both houses of Parliament or revocation of President’s Rule in the state. Parliament will go into a recess on March 18 and would reconvene only on April 15. President’s Rule in the state would lapse on April 12 unless its promulgation gets parliamentary approval by then. That is why the Government will have to put the proclamation in the RS next week.