Verdict: quite right

The strong indictment of the partisan action of the Bihar governor recommending the dissolution of the Bihar assembly comes as...

The strong indictment of the partisan action of the Bihar governor recommending the dissolution of the Bihar assembly comes as no surprise. It is imperative that the office of the governor should be held by apolitical citizens of eminence. Unfortunately, successive governments have degraded this post, using it as a way of distributing political largesse. It is not surprising therefore that these appointees are always willing to oblige the whims of the parties in office, instead of being impartially guided by constitutional provisions. The least that the UPA government can do is to publicly apologise to the nation for recommending dissolution based on the governor8217;s report.

8212; C.N. Kumar Bangalore

8226; The historic judgment on Bihar should serve as a red-letter day for Indian democracy, as it follows another landmark judgment in the Bommai case. With this, the country can certainly look forward to more impartial governors and more responsible decisions by the Union cabinet. While Manmohan Singh has rightly talked of respecting the judgment, as a responsible leader he should set a proper example for posterity by stepping down from prime ministership and owning moral responsibility for what the SC termed as 8220;accepting the subjective reports of the Governor without verifying them and recommending to the President the dissolution of the Bihar Assembly8221;.

8212; G.S. Kulkarni Mumbai

8226; This judgment on Buta Singh and the clandestine role of the Centre is historic and commendable. Justice has been done at last and truth has triumphed. But, regrettably, it does not serve any purpose. It is well said that justice delayed is justice denied. Given the national importance of the case, the judiciary should have been more efficient. A quicker verdict could have meant that a second election in Bihar could have been avoided and a poor country like ours could have saved crores.

8212; S.P. Sharma Mumbai

Ugly intrigue

8226; Reading Manini Chatterjee8217;s 8216;With an enemy like this8217; and the editorial, 8216;Week means weak?8217; IE, January 21, what one finds about Karnataka politics is an unedifying picture of wild ambition and ugly intrigue on the part of the coalition partners currently ruling and those who hope to rule. Each of the three major parties in the state are cruelly short of the enviable number in the assembly. While the Congress feels it has done a favour to Deve Gowda; he, in turn, with his less than 60 MLAs, labours under the impression that he can dictate who the Congress8217;s friends should be. In all this, the interests of the state take a back seat. The Congress was misled by its recent victories in the panchayat elections and PCC President Kharge is guilty of believing that one swallow makes a summer. As for the BJP, it should be thankful that Governor Chaturvedi has enhanced its image by not acting in indecent haste.

8212; R.K. Mukkavilli Bangalore

Sourav8217;s exclusion

8226; The decision to exclude Sourav Ganguly, just to accommodate five bowlers, is unfortunate. This is already evidenced by the huge Pakistani score in the first innings at Faislabad. But this should not surprise. The problem with Indian bowling is a lack of good pace bowlers 8212; a deficiency which cannot be met by increasing the number of bowlers by one. In fact, fielding deficiencies were all too evident, and Sourav8217;s exclusion 8212; given his brilliant fielding in the last test 8212; was clearly wrong.

8212; A.N. Mitra Delhi