New Delhi, March 7
Political leaders including BJP President L.K. Advani and RJD chief Laloo Prasad Yadav today took calculated steps to make the imposition of President rule on Bihar friendly if not hostile to their party's interests.
While Mr Advani had a 15 minute meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to impress on him the need to ensure the appointment of "competent and honest" Advisors to the Bihar Governor under Central rule to tackle corruption and criminalisation effectively, Mr Yadav was with Home Minister Shivraj Patil for 30 minutes and understood to have sought "cooperative and friendly"advisers.
Observers said both Mr Advani and Mr Yadav were making efforts that the President rule in Bihar was not "hostile" to their interests and that is why they were trying to have such advisors who were "neutral if not exactly friendly" to the NDA and "friendly and not exactly neutral".
Mr Advani reportedly expressed his apprehension to the Prime Minister saying that those who have been "perpetuating jungle raj" in the state for the past 15 years "still have the evil design to rule by proxy through Advisers".
He urged Dr Manmohan Singh that the selection of the advisers should be such that they should be "capable and honest to effectively handle the twin evils of corruption and criminalisation that plagues the state", the sources said.
The Prime Minister too stated that "there cannot be two opinions in this regard", they said.
The leader of Opposition also asked the Prime Minister to "fix responsibility" for the "assault on democracy" in Goa and Jharkhand and demanded the recall of the Governors of the two states — S.C. Jamir and Syed Sibtey Razi — respectively.
The Prime Minister responded by saying that the Governors had acted on the basis of their assessment.
The BJP chief told him that they had "erred" in their assessment and hence should be recalled to safeguard the dignity of the high Constitutional office they were holding.
Mr Advani had on Friday shot off a letter to the Prime Minister charging him and senior Congress MPs with "avoiding accountability to Parliament" and demanding a probe to determine the guilty behind the "assault on democracy" in the state and suitable action against them.
Mr Yadav met UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, the Home Minister and CPM General Secretary Harkishan Singh Surjeet.
In his meeting with the Home Minister, Mr Yadav stressed upon the need of having such advisers who would remain "friendly" to the "secular" interests.
After the 30-minute meeting, Mr Yadav said the Home Minister had called him to discuss the Bihar situation.
Indulging in political rhetoric, Mr Yadav held LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan responsible for the "unfortunate" situation of pushing the state towards Central rule saying that "for the first time in history, instead of staking claim, a political party has gone to the Governor to stop the single largest party (the RJD) from being invited for forming a government".
"I am sure this development will not cause any embarrassment to the UPA government at the Centre. There is lot of resentment among the people of Bihar. Mr Paswan is weakening the UPA", the RJD chief alleged.
He evaded replying to a question about what stand his party would take when the resolution for President's rule comes up before Parliament for ratification, saying "we will take a view then".
