President's rule in Manipur

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, JUNE 2. Manipur was brought under President's rule tonight on the Union Cabinet's recommendation to the President that Article 356 of the Constitution be invoked to put the State under Central rule. The Cabinet accepted the Governor, Mr. Ved Marwah's report that it was not possible to form a stable government in the State.

According to Mr. Jaswant Singh, External Affairs Minister, who briefed reporters after the Cabinet meeting, the State Assembly would be kept under ``suspended animation''. He also said all political parties, including the Congress, in Manipur had been consulted.

The Vajpayee Government is proceeding on the assumption that it would take about eight weeks of Central rule before the intractable political groups in Manipur sort out their equations. The Vajpayee Government does not have the numbers to get the Presidential proclamation ratified in the Rajya Sabha; but, it clearly has at least three months before it would be necessary for the Centre to seek Parliament's mandatory approval.

The BJP and the Samata in Manipur have been firmly told by their central leadership that defectors were not to be rewarded with ministerial berths; now the State level leaders have nearly two months to form new and stable group(s) before they can convince the Governor that Manipur could return to a ``popular'' government.

For now, the Cabinet decision should bring considerable satisfaction to the Samata leadership, which has threatened of dire consequences at the national level in case the BJP countenanced ministry-formation by the former Samata legislators in Manipur. Rather than have an annoyed Mr. George Fernandes and an even more annoyed Ms. Jaya Jaitly on its hand, the BJP leadership found itself constrained to renounce its ministerial ambitions in Manipur.

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