Thakre for Central rule in Bihar
Laloo, Mulayam warn against repercussions

NEW DELHI, Sept 12 (PTI) — The BJP today asserted that Bihar was a fit case for imposition of President’s rule but Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Laloo Prasad Yadav threatened he would not rest content till the Vajpayee government was toppled if the state government headed by his wife, Rabri Devi, was touched.

The Samajwadi Party, the CPM and CPI also warned the Centre against any move to dismiss the Bihar Government.

With opposition mounting to any move for the dismissal of the Rabri Devi government, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Madan Lal Khurana asserted here today that "Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee had only said a decision on the demand for dismissal will be taken soon".

However, party President Kushabhau Thakre told mediapersons in Bhubaneswar that BJP had advised the Centre to immediately sack the Rabri Devi government.

He charged the Bihar Government with stalling investigation into the fodder scam and said there was no rule of law in the state.

Mr Thakre said Bihar topped the list of states deserving to be placed under President’s rule and "I have to look for states which come next in the list."

Mr Laloo Prasad, who was here on his way to Mumbai, said his party was not in power in Bihar "at the whims and fancy of anyone but by the virtue of a thumping majority in the state assembly".

Mr Laloo Prasad ruled out the possibility of the Rabri Devi recommending dissolution of the House to pre-empt any move to sack her government.

Meanwhile, Home Minister L.K. Advani said at Jhinjhouli in Haryana "when it is necessary to use Article 356, as it is in some cases, we will do so".

The RJD spokesman Mr Shakeel Ahmed Khan told a press conference in Patna that "the Constitution and the country are not safe in the hands of the BJP-led coalition.... It is quite unbecoming on the part of a Prime Minister to declare that the Centre would soon take a decision on sacking a democratically-elected government in Bihar."

He demanded immediate intervention by President K.R. Narayanan into any move to dismiss the Bihar Government.

Another spokesman of the party M.A.A. Fatmi told the media here that the Rabri Devi government enjoyed a two-thirds majority in the state assembly and any attempt to dislodge it would be challenged in court.

The SP leader, Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav warned the Vajpayee government against the dismissal of Rabri Devi government.

He told a press conference in Mumbai that the statements of the Prime Minister and Mr Advani on the issue were "inappropriate and undemocratic" and that the dismissal of Rabri Devi government would lead to such public anger that may prove costly for the Vajpayee Government".

"It will have grave repercussions as the people will come out on the streets."