New Delhi, March 2
By inviting JMM chief Shibu Soren to form the government in Ranchi, Jharkhand Governor Syed Sibte Razi has provided the necessary lever to the BJP and its allies in the NDA to launch a frontal attack against the Manmohan Singh government accusing it of using a Constitutional head in subverting democracy and going against the mandate of the people.
Even as BJP President L.K. Advani and other Opposition leaders demanded the recall of the Jharkhand Governor and sought President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam’s intervention in overturning the decision of Mr Razi, the Budget session of Parliament is inevitably going to come to a grinding halt. The BJP-led NDA has made its intentions clear in this regard.
Over the last two days, the NDA with the BJP leaders in the vanguard have been expressing their worst fears on the floor of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha and the perceived objective of the Governors appointed by the UPA government.
This has inexorably brought Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the eye of a storm who had assured Mr Advani and company that he would speak to union home minister Shivraj Patil about their apprehensions.
Mr Patil took the first opportunity tonight to call on Mr Kalam and brief him about the developments in Jharkhand necessitating the Governor to invite Mr Soren to form the government. He is believed to have told the President that the UPA had submitted to the Governor a list of 42 names compared to 41 by the NDA. Simultaneously, the Congress has reasons to believe that the UPA is trying to wean away their legislators.
The Jharkhand Assembly has a strength of 81. Just prior to that the President had accepted the resignation of Coal minister Shibu Soren from the UPA government on the advice of Dr Manmohan Singh.
The meeting assumes significance in the light of charges by the Opposition that the Jharkhand Governor had thrown all democratic norms to the wind by inviting Mr Soren to form the government. Mr Soren is heading a seven member UPA ministry in Jharkhand. As expected Stephen Marandi, who was elected as an independent
candidate was sworn in as Deputy Chief Minister.While the CPI-M was guarded in offering its comments on the developments in Jharkhand, it stressed that the strength of any ministry must only be tested on the floor of the Assembly. The party refrained from making any observations about the Governor’s conduct one way or the other.
Meanwhile, former Prime Minister Chandra Shehar took exception to the UPA being invited to form the government in Jharkhand maintaining that the institution of the Governor was being subverted to suit “narrow political gains.”
He said Jharkhand Governor Syed Sibtey Razi had given the norms a go by against established practice that the largest party or a pre-poll alliance must be first offered the opportunity to form the government.
“If the Speaker of the Goa Assembly was willing to bend the rules a bit, the Governor of Jharkhand has shown that he is willing to twist them out of shape,” Mr Chandra Shekhar said. “The manner of political free for all does not augur well for democracy,” he added.
