New Delhi, March 4
Even as President’s rule was imposed in Goa and the Assembly kept in suspended animation, controversial Jharkhand Governor Syed Sibtey Razi sought to make amends by declaring his intent to prepone the three-week period accorded to UPA Chief Minister Shibu Soren to prove his majority in the Assembly.
Within hours after the Pratapsinh Rane Congress government in Panjim won the vote of confidence by a whisker this afternoon, thanks to the pro-tem Speaker’s casting vote, the Union Cabinet took up the matter expeditiously without waiting for a recommendation from Goa Governor S.C. Jamir.
By this move, the Manmohan Singh government is trying to deflect the criticism about the unsavoury happenings in Goa. Taking strong exception to a member of the Goa Assembly not being allowed to vote thus tilting the scales just that wee bit in favour of the Rane government, priority had to be accorded to the Centre’s intervention.
With the Opposition breathing fire about the post election scenario in Jharkhand, Mr Razi, who airdashed to the Capital on the summons of President APJ Abdul Kalam, disclosed preponing the confidence vote in the Assembly after a half-hour meeting in the forenoon with Dr Kalam where he explained the rationale for inviting the JMM leader to form a coalition government ahead of the BJP-led NDA which had rummaged a simple majority of 41 legislators.
The embattled and embarrassed Governor said he would announce the fresh date for Mr Soren to seek a confidence vote after holding consultations, on his return to Ranchi. In any case, at least seven days’ notice is required for convening the Assembly.
Later, when the Jharkhand Governor met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh he stressed that both sides were claiming 40 MLAs barring one — Enos Ekka — who has seemingly switched sides to the NDA. The regional Jharkhand Party to which this legislator owes allegiance had pledged its support to the UPA. Under the circumstances, Mr Razi said he could not accept Ekka’s claim. In any case if the MLA in question went with the NDA, he is likely to be disqualified from being a member of the Jharkhand Assembly.
Even though Mr Razi maintained that “procedurally, he had adhered to the provisions of the Constitution,” the Prime Minister is believed to have impressed upon him that Mr Soren should seek the vote of confidence at the earliest without further delay.
Leader of the Opposition and BJP president L.K. Advani wasted no time in writing a letter to the Prime Minister today demanding a probe to determine who was responsible for the action of the Governor of Jharkhand and take suitable action against the guilty. He underlined the “imperativeness of fixing responsibility for what has happened” in the state.
“I am
astounded that no one in either the Central Government or in the leading constituent of the UPA is willing to take responsibility in the face of so major an onslaught on the Constitution,” Mr Advani observed.
He pointedly referred to the presence of two Congress leaders including a member of Dr Singh’s Cabinet, in Ranchi throughout the sordid developments. He wanted to know what these two leaders were doing in Ranchi and “who in Delhi, if any, they were
taking instructions from.”
Notwithstanding the intense fire fighting operations in the Manmohan Singh Government with the Congress in the vanguard, it is faced with the problem of getting the Budget session of Parliament back on rails.
The matter has got compounded with the NDA declaring that they will not allow Parliament to function till Goa Governor S.C. Jamir and Mr Razi are recalled and the action of the Jharkhand Governor in installing Mr Soren as Chief Minister is reversed.
In this war of attrition and political oneupmanship, the badly bruised Congress is delicately placed with the Opposition onslaught taking some queer twists and turns. Despite the assertions of Congress leaders that neither the UPA nor its party President Sonia Gandhi had any hand in the action of “murdering democracy” by the Jharkhand Governor, there are few takers in the political spectrum.
The issue of those holding gubernatorial office has been vitiated further by the manner in which the Pratap Singh Rane government in Panjim secured the vote of confidence by a whisker this afternoon which has once again propelled the Goa Governor as well as the pro-tem Speaker into the eye of a raging storm. It is in this context that proclaiming President’s rule in Goa assumes significance.
Even though the political spectrum is acutely aware that any decision taken by the Governor is non-justiciable under Article 164 of the Constitution, those holding gubernatorial offices can only attempt course corrections to set right an act of gross impropriety.
As a Governor holds office with the pleasure of the President, the recall of a constitutional head is an extreme measure hardly resorted to barring extraordinary circumstances. However, constitutional experts aver that if such a suggestion is made by the President to the Prime Minister, the matter vests with the Union Government to take a decision one way or the other.
At the same time, the Congress adopted a tough stance that Mr Soren will prove his majority on the floor of the assembly “whether the voting in the assembly is preponed or postponed.” They accused the NDA of “terrorising” MLAs in securing their support.
Senior Congress leader P.R. Dasmunshi told mediapersons after a brainstorming session at the Prime Minister’s residence that Sonia Gandhi is not involved in any manner in the developments in Jharkhand. “Whatever the verdict of the Jharkhand Assembly will be accepted by Mr Soren,” Mr Dasmunshi added.
Significantly, the high-power meeting was attended by Arjun Singh, Pranab Mukherjee, Shivraj Patil, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Ambika Soni and Subodh Kant Sahay to assess the Jharkhand imbroglio in its entirety. It was after this that Mr Razi called on Dr Singh.
While former Jharkhand Chief Minister Arjun Munda said that Mr Razi had no moral right to continue in office as Governor, the CPM, a major ally of the UPA noted that the haste with which Mr Soren was installed as Chief Minister and the long time given to prove his majority could give rise to horsetrading.
Rejecting the BJP’s politically motivated demand to Mr Razi, Nilotpal Basu and Basudeb Acharya said that the “possible error of judgement about the number of legislators could have been avoided had the Governor taken more care in satisfying himself.”
The fear of horsetrading is evidenced by the fact that the NDA wants to keep its flock of MLAs including the independents in close proximity under watchful eyes. That is why these 41 legislators have now been shifted to Rajasthan, a state ruled by the BJP.
Former BJP president M. Venkaiah Naidu acknowledged it and said in his irrepressible style “we have not taken them to Italy or some other foreign destination but to Rajasthan which is an integral part of India. They will be in Ranchi well in time to take part in the vote of confidence whenever the date is fixed.”
Meanwhile, the hushed talk in Congress circles is that the party’s observer in Jharkhand and former Chattisgarh Chief Minister Ajit Jogi may have masterminded Mr Soren’s elevation as the Chief Minister. Aides of Mr Jogi
whisper with a wry smile that the operation was undertaken after getting the green signal from AICC leaders in the Capital. They refused to divulge who the Congress high command’s pointperson in New Delhi who reportedly gave the nod.
