President rejects recommendation

NEW DELHI, Sept 25 (PTI) — President K.R. Narayanan tonight rejected the Union Cabinet’s recommendation for imposition of President’s Rule in Bihar and sent it back to the BJP-led coalition for "reconsideration" giving a major setback to the Vajpayee government.

The President said in his communication to the government that "application of Article 356 of the Constitution is not warranted as constitutional machinery in the state (Bihar) has not broken down," according to official sources.

Home Minister L.K. Advani said he would consult his ministerial colleagues tomorrow morning in the light of the presidential decision.

The President’s decision came after three days of consultation with political parties and constitutional and legal experts.

This is the second time Mr Narayanan has sent back a Cabinet recommendation for imposition of President’s rule in a state. In October last year, he returned the Gujral government’s recommendation for imposition of central rule in Uttar Pradesh which prompted the United Front ministry to drop the move.

BJP sources said a formal reply of the government to the President’s communication would be sent only after Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s return from abroad next week following which the Cabinet would meet.

However, the Union Council of Ministers would meet here informally tomorrow to take stock of the situation in the light of the President returning the recommendation for dismissal of the Rabri Devi Government and the placing of Bihar assembly under suspended animation.

President of the ruling RJD in Bihar Laloo Prasad Yadav welcomed the President’s decision saying he always had full faith that Mr Narayanan would not allow "murder" of democracy and the Constitution.

Earlier in the day, an informal meeting of the Union Council of Ministers discussed the Bihar issue and decided to await the President’s decision before considering the next course of action.

The government had recommended dismissal of the Rabri Devi government following Governor Sundar Singh Bhandari’s report that the constitutional machinery had broken down in Bihar where he had said that a "parallel government and mafia raj" were being run.

The Union Cabinet’s recommendation was made hours after the Rabri Devi government had won a confidence vote in the Bihar Assembly.

The central government’s decision brought together the entire opposition against the move while some of its allies, including Lok Shakti and the Akali Dal, had expressed reservations about use of Article 356 to dismiss an elected government.

Meanwhile Opposition parties have hailed the decision of the President as a victory for democracy and defeat for the designs of the ruling party to use Article 356 for political purposes.

From Patna, Rashtriya Janata Dal president Laloo Prasad Yadav said the President had given a historic decision by returning the recommendation of the Cabinet for the dismissal which had strengthened the democracy. It had also exposed the ‘nefarious’ designs of Samata Party and other ‘communal forces’.

Hailing the President as a man of conviction he said Mr Narayanan would go down in the history as messiah of democracy and proved time and again that he was not a ‘rubber stamp President’.

He demanded immediate resignation of the BJP-led coalition government at the Centre for misleading the President and nation. It was now for the secular parties to form a new government and replace the Vajpayee government, he added.

The Communist Party of India tonight said President K.R. Narayanan had upheld democratic values and constitutional propriety by returning the recommendation of the Vajpayee government.

"One would like to condemn the statement of the HRD Minister M.M. Joshi, who even without waiting for the President’s decision has talked about reiterating the decision in case of the President sending it back. This is nothing but an attempt to pressurise the President", CPI spokesman Shameen Faizee said.

PATNA: Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi tonight welcomed President K.R. Narayanan’s decision to return the union Cabinet’s recommendation for imposition of central rule in the state saying this had ‘’upheld’’ democracy and the constitution. "The President has upheld democratic and constitutional provisions by returning to the Cabinet for reconsideration of its recommendation for imposition of central rule in Bihar," she told PTI.

Ms Rabri Devi said her government was running in accordance with law and claimed there was not even an iota of evidence to show that the state machinery has failed to discharge its constitutional obligations.

Where is the constitutional breakdown? The Chief Minister said and termed as undemocratic and politically-motivated the Vajpayee government’s recommendation for dismissal of her government.

"The people of Bihar have full faith in the RJD. Besides, only a few days back, we won a confidence vote, she said adding the Centre’s recommendation was completely against set norms of democracy.

Hundreds of activists of the four political parties protesting against Central government’s recommendation for dismissing the Rabri Devi government in Bihar were arrested today during the ‘rail roko’ agitation in various parts of Tamil Nadu.

Those taken into custody included TNCC president Tindivanam K. Ramamurthy, Rashtriya Janata Dal (rjd) state president K. Jagaveerapandian, United Communist Party of India chairman D. Pandian and former Tamil Maanila Congress (TMC) councillor ‘Karate’ Thyagarajan.

The police said the four leaders along with 400 volunteers were taken into custody at the Central Railway Station when they attempted to block the departure of the Chennai-Howrah Express.

The train suffered a delay of over 45 minutes, it said.

Former TNCC president Kumari Ananthan was among the 85 persons taken into custody at the Egmore railway station.

Railway sources said the agitation did not affect train services.

Later, Mr Tindivanam Ramamurthy described the move to dismiss Rabri Devi government as "undemocratic and unconstitutional."

The Congress organised a protest meeting and hoisted black flag in the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) office premises here.

Terming the move to invoke Article 356 as a "politically motivated and mala fide one". APCC president Tarun Gogoi, MP said it was done in a "most undemocratic and unconstitutional manner."

Nationwide protests by Opposition

NEW DELHI, Sept 25 (PTI) — Hartals, dharnas and taking out of processions in different parts of the country today marked the observance of a "protest day" by several Opposition parties against the Centre’s recommendation for the imposition of President’s rule in Bihar.

In Patna, the ruling RJD took out a procession to the historic Gandhi Maidan and burnt effigies of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, Union Home Minister L.K. Advani and state Governor S.S. Bhandari.

Addressing a rally on the occasion, RJD chief Laloo Prasad Yadav termed the recommendation as "undemocratic" and asked party workers to rouse public opinion against the move to dismiss the Rabri Devi government.

Seven Left parties, including the CPI and CPM, organised a day-long dharna in Patna to protest "misuse" of Article 356. Reports of similar processions and dharnas were received from other parts of Bihar as well.

In Kerala, a 12-hour bandh was observed at the call of CPM-led Left Democratic Front while in Tamil Nadu, hundreds of activists belonging to four parties, including the Congress, RJD and United Communist Party of India, organised a ‘rail roko’ agitation, marginally delaying movement of trains.

Opposition parties held demonstrations in Delhi and lambasted the government for making a "blatantly partisan and unlawful" move.

The Congress, CPM, CPI, Samajwadi Party, RJD, Forward Bloc and RSP reiterated their resolve to fight back what they called "subversion of democracy" and called upon people to rebuff "authoritarian moves of the BJP-led government and be prepared for bigger struggles in days to come".

The demonstrations, staged as part of the ‘all-India protest day’ were addressed by Mrs Sheila Dikshit (Congress), Mr Atul Kumar Anjan (CPI), Mr Amar Singh (SP), Mr Bhim Singh (RSP), Mr Brinda Karat (CPM) and Mr Raghuvansh Prasad (RJD).

The speakers attacked the BJP-led government for its "brazen conspiracy to throttle all democratic norms and subvert the spirit of the Constitution".

They said it also exposed the "real anti-democratic nature and hypocritical double-speak of the BJP" and that this was best exemplified by Mr Vajpayee’s fast unto death against use of Article 356 in Uttar Pradesh.

They pointed out that even BJP’s allies like the TDP, Akalis and Lok Shakti have opposed the move.

Mrs Dikshit said if Bihar was a state with bad governance, the governments of Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Rajasthan were "miserably incompetent" and quoted Delhi as an "example of the failure of the BJP government on all fronts.

Vajpayee informed

NEW YORK, Sept 25 (PTI) — Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee was today informed of President K.R. Narayanan’s decision to return the recommendation of the Union Cabinet for the imposition of President's rule in Bihar when he was in the midst of a series of bilateral meetings with world leaders

Official sources said the Prime Minister had taken note of the development.

Meanwhile, Union Home Minister L.K. Advani tonight said the government would "definitely reconsider" its recommendation but asserted that the President was "constitutionally bound" to accept any reiteration of the Cabinet decision.

Commenting on the presidential communication, the Home Minister said it was a different matter that if the Cabinet stuck to its original stand the President will be constitutionally bound to accept it.

Mr Advani said he would go through the communication thoroughly and discuss it with his ministerial colleagues tomorrow before the government conveyed its future course of action.