NEW DELHI, 27 January 2006 — Buta Singh resigned yesterday as Bihar governor but striking a note of defiance he insisted that he had been unfairly indicted by the Supreme Court for recommending the dissolution of the state assembly in March 2005.
“I have sent my resignation to the president,” a combative Buta Singh told reporters at Raj Bhavan in Patna. Saying he had “the greatest respect” for the Supreme Court, Buta Singh said it had erred on two counts.
“The Supreme Court says my report misled the government. There are two aspects to my report. One, about horse-trading and the other, that I did not entertain claims (to form the government).
“I was building up a daily file on this (horse-trading) and this was eventually sent to the president. There were other proofs — of people being whisked away in armored vehicles, of how one person signed for 13 or 14 (legislators). What more proof do you need of horse trading?” he asked.
Earlier in the day, he had taken the salute at the Republic Day parade.
Buta Singh had been under tremendous pressure to quit since the Supreme Court, in a 3:2 verdict Tuesday, held him guilty of misleading the Cabinet that the fractured verdict of the February 2005 assembly poll had prevented any party or group from staking claim to form a government.
