Govt looks for ways to wriggle out of Bihar situation

Prior to going to Chandigarh for the Congress chief ministers' conclave, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh went into a huddle with officials.

He later drove down to Rashtrapati Bhavan and met President APJ Abdul Kalam, possibly to convey to him the urgency of recalling Bihar Governor Buta Singh.

During the 20-minute meeting at Rashtrapati Bhavan, described as part of "regular interaction", Kalam's recent visit to the north-eastern states also figured, President's Press Secretary SM Khan said in a statement here.

Top party leaders say there are four parties to the Bihar mess, following the Supreme Court order. All four have been discredited by the order and all four are looking for a way to wriggle out.

Home Minister Shivraj Patil was the one who impressed upon the Prime Minister, the urgency of convening a midnight meeting of cabinet to impose President's Rule on Bihar, when it became clear that Lok Janshkti Party (LJP) chief Ramvilas Paswan would not support the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and there was a chance that the Nitish Kumar might cobble together a slim majority.

The Prime Minister let himself be persuaded to accept President's rule, though sources say he was not happy about it. The President endorsed and acted upon the recommendation of the Union Council of Ministers without independently verifying that this was the only course of action possible at the time.

And Governor Buta Singh , who is the eye of the storm, has told Congress leaders who have been in touch with him since the morning, that he only did what he was asked to do. So why was he being asked to quit like some common politician?

Congress leaders say a collective political decision will have to be taken to resolve the problem.

Regardless of whether the Supreme Court order is right or wrong, the fact is that before Saturday evening, when Congress chief Sonia Gandhi is scheduled to attend a public function, the government will have to decide in which direction to proceed.

If allowed to fester, this issue might snowball into the kind of crisis the Congress got involved in when Governor Ram Lal dismissed NT Rama Rao's government in Andhra Pradesh in 1983 following defections and was charged with subverting the Constitution.