LUCKNOW, India, 18 February 2007 — While the Uttar Pradesh Raj Bhavan is tight-lipped on the issue, highly placed sources confirmed here yesterday that Gov. T.V. Rajeshwar had formally recommended the imposition of president’s rule in the state.
Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav has said that “any move to dismiss my government would be unconstitutional as we have not only repeatedly won the vote of confidence on the floor of the state assembly but are willing to prove it once again when the assembly meets Feb. 26.”
A report has been sent by Rajeshwar to federal Home Minister Shivraj Patil through a special envoy flown from here to Delhi early yesterday, the sources said.
The governor’s report follows Thursday’s Supreme Court verdict disqualifying 13 Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) defectors and putting a question mark on 24 others with whose support Mulayam Singh had cobbled up a majority to win a vote of confidence shortly after forming his government in 2003.
The sources said the governor prepared his report in the wake of demands by opposition leaders to dismiss the 41-month-old Mulayam Singh government.
BSP General Secretary Satish Chandra Misra had argued that since the Supreme Court had disqualified the 13 defectors with effect from Aug. 28, 2003, the very constitution of the government was illegal from the very beginning.
A highly placed source said, “Misra had a long meeting with Rajeshwar Friday. Prior to that Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Salman Khurshid too remained closeted with him for nearly an hour.”
A constitutional lawyer and former state advocate general in the Mayawati government, Misra had argued the BSP case in both the Allahabad High Court and the Supreme Court. The governor also had a long telephone discussion with Home Minister Patil before sending his report to the center, the sources said.
However, according to sources close to Mulayam Singh, he will not step down on “moral grounds” but will wait for the center’s next move.
With that the scene naturally shifts to New Delhi where Congress leaders are believed to be busy making efforts to convince allies to enable the United Progressive Alliance government to take the governor’s recommendation forward.
The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), a Congress ally, insists that the Mulayam Singh government should be given a chance to prove its majority in the assembly. “It has to be done on the floor of the house,” said Prakash Karat, CPI (M) general secretary. His party opposes the use of Article 356 of the constitution that enables the imposition of federal rule on a state.
Karat had conveyed his displeasure to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi through External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who held talks with the allies on Friday.
The CPI-M, Communist Party of India (CPI), Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) and Forward Bloc extend crucial outside support to the Congress-led government.
Congress leaders are very firm that they want president’s rule in Uttar Pradesh as they do not think the Mulayam Singh government will conduct free and fair elections in May when the state goes to the polls.
