Chandigarh, October 8
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today owned moral responsibility for the controversial decision on the dissolution of the Bihar Assembly, which was declared "unconstitutional" by the Supreme Court yesterday.
Addressing a joint Press conference with Congress President Sonia Gandhi at the conclusion of the two-day conclave of party Chief Ministers, Dr. Singh also made it abundantly clear that the Centre would not take any action on the apex court's order till it has studied the final judgement.
"We don't disown our responsibility and mine as Prime Minister," Dr. Singh said when asked whether the apex court's order reflected poorly on the Union Cabinet. The decision, he said, was taken under specific circumstances, adding that it was their considered opinion that given the reports before them, this was the only course of action open to them.
The government, he said, is awaiting the detailed order as they did not know the reasons which led the Supreme Court to arrive at the conclusion it did, thus indicating that the government is in no hurry to take a view on Mr. Buta Singh.
Mrs. Gandhi disagreed that Raj Bhavans were being used for conducting politics. " I don't think any political activity is being undertaken at Raj Bhavans," she said in response to a specific query.
Speaking in the same vein, the Prime Minister did not endorse the suggestion that politicians should not be appointed Governors after the Bihar experience. "There are various elements which go into appointment of Governors. I don't think being in active politics disqualifies a person from being appointed Governor," Dr. Singh said.
Congress sources indicated that the Prime Minister would also be consulting other alliance partners, including the Left leaders, since this was a collective decision. In any case, it was stated, any final view can only taken
by the Cabinet since the earlier decision endorsing dissolution of the Bihar assembly was taken by it. While Bihar clearly dominated the twenty-minute press meet, the two leaders, who were addressing their first joint Press conference, were also questioned on a spate of other matters ranging from the UPA-Left relations, the J&K leadership issue to the Iran vote and the proceedings of the chief ministers' conclave.
Putting up a brave face on the government's strained relations with the Marxists, Dr. Singh said there had been "no major hiccup in the functioning of the government" which has been in office for 16 months. He said some differences are bound to rise in a democracy and multi-party coalition but added that credible ways would be found of sorting out these out in the near future.
On her part, Mrs. Gandhi was non-committal about the leadership change in Jammu and Kashmir and said they had yet to take a decision and it would be known after she consulted the Prime Minister and others in the party. Referring to the Chief Ministers' conclave, Mrs. Gandhi explained that the purpose of these meetings was to review progress on the implementation of election promises and what further needs to be done.
