Govt has Buta egg on its straight face

With the JD(U)-BJP combine getting ready for the Bihar elections this autumn, party leaders have decided to make the most of the ‘‘highly improper’’ letter which they see as clinching evidence of the Buta-Laloo mutually beneficial relationship.

That relationship was on display in the capital today as both leaders met during the day and adopted the same dismissive nonchalance on the implications of the letter. Maintaining that he had done no wrong, Buta Singh told reporters, ‘‘There is no code for governors which says whether a governor can write letters or not.’’

And in a politically loaded statement given the caste factor in Bihar, Singh added that he had not committed any crime by pleading the case of ‘‘a scheduled caste officer’’ and would do it again.

Echoing Singh, Laloo too adopted the ‘‘no big deal’’ stand. ‘‘What is the big deal if he wrote a letter,’’ Laloo asked reporters, adding that it was ‘‘natural’’ for a governor to do so.

Laloo also contended that no harm was done since he had refused the governor’s request on grounds that a Vigilance inquiry was pending against the officer concerned, Vijay P Meshram. He had informed Buta Singh of the enquiry and Singh had agreed that ‘‘if that was the case, he should not be transferred.’’

The Laloo-Buta duet did not cut much ice with the Opposition. Dismissing their claim that there was nothing wrong with the letter, written on the Governor’s official letterhead, BJP vice-president M A Naqvi said: ‘‘It is for the first time in history that a Governor has recommended in writing the transfer of an offical when the state is under Governor’s rule.’’

BJP deputy leader in the Lok Sabha V K Malhotra told reporters that the issue would be taken up at the meeting of NDA leaders before Parliament meets on Monday morning, and would thereafter be ‘‘vociferously’’ raised in both Houses of Parliament.

Not only was the letter ‘‘highly improper,’’ but it also showed that both Buta Singh and Laloo Prasad Yadav were ‘‘getting postings and transfers of their choice done through each other,’’ Malhotra said. Under the circumstances, free and fair assembly polls was not possible under the current dispensation, he added.

Naqvi too, as well as the BJP’s Bihar unit chief Sushil Modi, alleged that since Buta Singh had obliged Laloo by transferring key police officials in Bihar recently, he was now seeking favours from the railway minister.

Naqvi also told The Indian Express that although the model code of conduct was not in operation in Bihar right now, everyone knew that elections were round the corner. With the letter providing yet more proof that the Governor was not ‘‘impartial’’ in his conduct, the EC should intervene, he said.

The Congress and other UPA allies made no comment on the issue today. Congress spokesman Abhishek Singhvi said, ‘‘Since it involves a constitutional post holder, the Governor, there is nothing for a party to comment.’’

However, political parties across the spectrum will have to take a stand when the matter comes up in Parliament on Monday.

The Left is already divided in Bihar (with CPI and CPI(ML) firmly anti-Laloo and CPI(M) with him) and a parliamentary debate may force further divisions unless the UPA undertakes some damage control over the weekend.