Oppn wants Bihar Governor recalled, Advani says no

“There is no question of recall of (Bihar) Governor. He has not done anything illegal or unconstitutional in inviting Nitish Kumar to form government in the state after a fractured verdict in the Assembly elections", Advani said in reply to a short duration discussion.

Advani said the evidence placed before him by the Governor indicated there was "no haste" or "partisanship" in asking the Nitish Kumar-led NDA alliance to form a government at the point of time as Kumar was ahead in the numbers game.

An angry opposition led by its leader Manmohan Singh took exception to Advani quoting from the Governor’s letter that Congress had taken no decison to support RJD till the night of March 2, a day before Pandey decided to call NDA to form the government.

Singh said Advani’s claim was "totally false" and that the Governor had "misled" the Home Minister.

The infuriated Opposition led by senior Congress member Pranab Mukherjee demanded that Advani place the letter on the table of the House after authenticating it.

The House had admitted on March 7 a Manmohan Singh-sponsored motion to discuss the conduct of the Governor under Rule 168 entailing voting but no time was fixed for it. However, the issue was taken up today as a short duration discussion under Rule 170 which did not allow voting.

When pressed by Opposition to specify that whether Pandey had intimated any time limit for submission of list of supporters by rival contenders, Advani sidestepped the issue affirming that there was no basis to say that Pandey had flouted constitutional norms.

The Home Minister asserted that at the time Pande took the decision to invite Kumar on March three, NDA had submitted a list 151 MLAs support to RJDs 133.

Advani said though members accused the Governor of violating the Constitutional provisions and conventions, no instances were citied by them to point out as to where the Governor had faulted.

He also denied that the Governor had acted at the behest of the Centre.

Besides, as constitutional head of state, a Governor has discretionary power to act as a vital link between the Centre and the state and as an agent of the Union Government in certain situations as advocated by the Sarkaria Commission.

"But, after having gone through the matter in detail, I cannot find any constitutional provision that he has violated and that he can be held guilty," the Home Minister said.

Stating that there was no contradiction with the recommendations of the Sarkaria Commission on the Centre-State relations, Advani said the Governor should not risk determining the majority support and it was only to be determined on the floor of the Assembly.

In this context, he said, the Governor invited Nitish Kumar and gave him ten days to prove his majority.

Referring to a point made by Kapil Sibal (Cong) that the Governor should have first asked the incumbent Chief Minister Minister Rabri Devi to form the next government, Advani said the Commission was silent on the issue.

He said against 247 recommendations made by the Commission, 125 have been considered and recommended for implementation. While 53 have been implemented, 50 are ready for consideration by the Inter-State Council.

In the Lok Sabha too, the RJD and Samajwadi party members mounted pressure on the Centre for recall of the Bihar Governor for installing a "minority" NDA Government even as Speaker G M C Balayogi admitted a fresh motion on the issue entailing voting.

Raising the issue during question hour, RJD leader Raghuvansh Prasad Singh alleged that the Bihar Governor had violated all Constitutional norms by asking Kumar to form the Government in the state.

He also alleged that CBI was framing "false cases" against RJD resident Laloo Prasad Yadav.

Later, during zero hour, Balayogi informed the House he had admitted a new motion under Rule 184 which allows voting on the conduct of Pandey.

He said the date and time for the debate would be fixed after a meeting of the Business Advisory Committee to be attended by various party leaders.

Balayogi said the political situation in Bihar had materially changed since an earlier notice on the same issue moved by Singh and six others.

Earlier in Patna, RJD president Laloo Prasad Yadav called for immediate resignation of the Atal Behari Vajpayee ministry and recall of the Bihar Governor.

The decision of the NDA government led by Kumar to resign without seeking a vote on cofidence motion moved by him in the state assembly reflected the dishonesty, unconstitutional and arbitrary decision of the Governor under pressure from the Centre, Yadav told reporters.

He said the Vajpayee Ministry should step down immediately and the Governor be recalled.

Holding the Governor responsible for the violence that occurred after his decision on inviting Kumar to form a minoirity government, the RJD supremo said even three of his activists lost their lives and several injured the alleged repressive measures taken by the state administration last week.

Meanwhile, the Rajya Sabha today witnessed noisy scenes over Law Minister Ram Jethmalani’s remarks during a short duration discussion on Governors’ role in the light of recent developments in Bihar with opposition members asking for expunging his speech.

On Jethmalani’s remarks that the leader of Bihar Congress party Sadanand Singh did not specifically tell the Governor that his party was supporting RJD on the crucial day of March 2, leader of Opposition Manmohan Singh said the Law Minister was distorting the facts.

Jethmalani, who was participating in the discussion in his capacity as a member, stuck to his stand. This irked Singh and he pointed out that Sadanand Singh made the call to the Bihar Governor from his room and in his presence.

However, Jethmalani kept on repeating what he said was the fact and it was on the crucial factors which led the Governor in inviting Nitish Kumar to form the government.

This and some other remarks of Jethmalani agitated the opposition benches who demanded expunging his entire speech from records. T N Chaturvedi who was in the chair invited Sanathan Bisi to conduct the proceedings.

At this juncture, Opposition members began raising points of order saying only the concerned Minister should reply to the debate. "If the ministers were allowed to participate in short duration discussion, it would set a bad precendent," Congess member Pranab Mukherjee said.