M A I N   N E W S

Swami for President’s rule in UP
BJP leaves decision to Governor
R. Suryamurthy
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 26
“President’s rule should be imposed in Uttar Pradesh as the Mayawati government has been reduced to a minority,” said the Minister of State for Home Affairs, Mr I.D. Swami, thus clearly indicating the line of thinking of the Vajpayee government on the present crisis in the state.

“Such a measure (President’s rule) is necessary as the Governor can then satisfy the claims of other parties to form an alternative government in the state,” he told The Tribune.

The report sent by Uttar Pradesh Governor Vishnu Kant Shastri is being examined by the Union Home Ministry.

The Governor, after holding several rounds of telephonic conversation with the Home Ministry officials, reportedly sent his report on the developments in the state to the Centre late last night.

Mr Swami said the Governor should take a final decision on this matter. He could call any party which stakes claim to form the government only after ascertaining the seriousness of the claim, he added.

The BJP Parliamentary Board, which met this morning at the Prime Minister’s residence, left the issue of imposition of President’s rule in Uttar Pradesh to the Governor.

“It is for the Governor to decide”, BJP president M. Venkaiah Naidu told newspersons after a two-hour-long meeting. He said it was for the Governor to constitutionally take the correct course of action and as far as BJP was concerned, “We are ready for any situation.”

The party’s state unit leaders, including state president Vinay Katiyar, Union Minister Rajnath Singh, Mr Kalraj Mishra, Mr Om Prakash Singh and Mr Lalji Tandon, asserted that President’s rule was the best option before the party in the prevailing situation.

The meeting, presided over by the Prime Minister, was attended by Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani, Dr Murli Manohar Joshi, Mr Arun Jaitley, BJP general secretary Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and BJP leader from Uttar Pradesh.

The meeting decided that the party would not make any move to form an alternative government in the state following the withdrawal of support to the Mayawati-led coalition arrangement.

Ratifying the withdrawal of support from the BSP-BJP combine, the Parliamentary Board expressed its “unhappiness” over the “unilateral” decision of Ms Mayawati to recommend the dissolution of the Assembly.

Mr Naidu said the board was “unhappy” that the Chief Minister, who was a coalition partner, had not bothered to take its ally into confidence before taking such a major decision. “This amounts to breach of trust, something which is totally unacceptable to the BJP,” he added.

Asked whether the Samajwadi Party, which is the single largest party in the Assembly, should be invited to form the government, Mr Naidu said it was for the Governor to decide.

Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav has met the Governor and staked his claim to form the government.

Meanwhile, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has said the Governor should invite to Mr Yadav to form the government and the dissolution of Assembly was unacceptable.

“Democratic norms demand that the leader of the single largest party in the Assembly, the Samajwadi Party, be asked to form the government,” the party Polit Bureau said in a statement here.

“The demand for the dissolution of the Assembly or the imposition of President’s rule cannot be accepted”, it said.

This is the third time that the BSP-BJP combine has failed. Both sides have already started trading charges. While the BJP has accused Mayawati of breach of trust, she, in turn, has alleged that the BJP was joining hands with her rivals in the Opposition to form an alternative government.