Jharkhand trial date advanced

Razi meets Kalam, makes little concession

After his meeting with President APJ Abdul Kalam today, Jharkhand Governor Syed Sibtey Razi said he would advance the date for the trial of strength in the Assembly by convening the new session "at the earliest".

This is the only concession the governor, who is in the midst of a storm, was ready to make after he met the President. He said new date would be announced in Ranchi "in a day or two" after consulting political parties.

Razi also met Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil today and reportedly discussed probable dates for the new session.

At present, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) Chief Minister Shibu Soren has been given time till March 21 to prove his majority the 81-member House.

Razi was summoned by the President to Delhi for "discussions" on the manner in which the Soren government was instituted in Jharkhand, when it was not clear as to whom five Independents were supporting.

The Bharatiya Janata Party-Janata Dal(United) and the Congress-Jharkhand Mukti Morcha lists had two common names, which have subsequently been added to the BJP count.

Razi refused to divulge the conversation he had with the President, but said he had been given a patient hearing as he explained how he had not violated any constitutional norms by inviting Soren to form a government.

He said he had given 20 days to the Soren government to prove its majority keeping in view the time factor involved in appointment of a pro-tem Speaker, oath-taking by the new members and the governor's address.

According to him, in such circumstances 30 days were given for proving majority but he had given the Soren government only three weeks.

Razi's meeting with the President comes on the heels of a dramatic parade at Rashtrapati Bhavan last evening of the 41 MLAs supporting the NDA. With the presentation of the 41 MLAs, the BJP claim, that the Congress governor had acted with partisan motives, seemed to gain credence.

The Congress, which had presumably got wind of the situation, has been in a damage-control mode since last evening. Today it continued to distance it's top leadership - Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh - from the governor's action, claiming that they were unaware of the situation on the ground.

Within Congress circles, however, the talk centered round who was responsible for the debacle and blame changed hands between Arjun Singh and Ahmed Patel for masterminding the UPA's biggest flop to date.

The official stand, however, was that the Congress was ready for the challenge. "The advancing of the vote of confidence will be no setback to the UPA," PR Dasmunshi (Congress) said after a meeting of top party leaders at the Prime Minister's residence.

The Congress chief thought that the governor was "constitutionally within his jurisdiction to decide on the matter", he said. Gandhi "is not involved in any way in the entire episode," he added.

The Left parties, the CPI, in particular, turned sharper in their criticism of the developments in Jhrakhand. But both the CPI and the CPI(M) shied away from attributing even part blame to the Congress high command. The CPI(M) said it would not support the recall of the governor since it was a constitutional matter and not a political one.

The prized BJP-JD(U) legislators and the Independents, meanwhile, made their way to Sariska in Rajasthan, a BJP-ruled state.