Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Last week’s events have shown that Opposition parties in Lucknow are not confident of revealing their cards (read MLAs) to the Governor and have instead thrown the ball into Governor Vishnu Kant Shastri’s court by asking him to convene the Assembly. They would rather Chief Minister Mayawati prove her majority in the House. But how do they propose to get their demand accepted by Shastri?
According to Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) leader Ajit Singh, ‘‘The onus is on Shastri and he is bound to follow the established constitutional norms and precedents which allow for the dismissal of a government when an alliance partner pulls out. The combined coalition strength is only 196. Independents cannot be included as they have voted differently, at different times.’’
Ajit cites three conventions — the Governor could refer to the time when the SP-BSP government was dismissed in 1993 after Mayawati pulled out of Mulayam Singh Yadav’s coalition; or, the S.R. Bommai case where guidelines have been laid for the Governor to follow during a no-confidence vote or, more recently in Maharashtra when five ruling party MLAs petitioned the Governor to convene the House to test the majority of the ruling coalition.
BJP leaders like Lalji Tandon and the Bajrang Dal’s Arun Katiyar have cautioned Shastri from making any hasty moves. Tandon has pleaded if the Opposition gives a list of its supporters that includes BJP MLAs, the Governor should also confirm the names of RLD MLAs. Katiyar has threatened polls if the government is pulled down.
Says an Opposition leader: ‘‘The ruling coalition is holding out the threat of polls to keep its flock together. BJP MLAs will still leave as they see the party plunging further in the next election.’’
