Time till 9 a.m. for Governor's report

By Neena Vyas

NEW DELHI, JUNE 30. The Centre today seemed to have made up its mind to take on the Tamil Nadu Government head-on, declaring that the arrests of the former Chief Minister, Mr. M. Karunanidhi, two Union Ministers, Mr. Murasoli Maran and Mr. T. R. Baalu, and other DMK leaders were illegal and unconstitutional.

The Tamil Nadu Governor, Ms. Fathima Beevi, has been given time till 9 a.m. tomorrow to submit a report on the developments in the State, related to the arrests.

The Union Cabinet will meet tomorrow at noon, the Law Minister, Mr. Arun Jaitley, announced late tonight, while indicating that it would consider the Governor's report, or in its absence, take appropriate decisions. There are clear indications that if the Governor fails to comply, she would have to go. In fact, Mr. Fernandes, NDA convener, said the Governor was duty-bound to keep the Centre informed of the developments in the State, especially when two Union Ministers had been arrested. In a day of fast- moving developments, there was a flurry of telephone calls from the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, to the arrested DMK Ministers.

He also tried to contact the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Ms. Jayalalithaa, but having failed, conveyed a message to the Chief Secretary, Mr. P. Shankar, that he should immediately send a report to the Centre.

Speaking on behalf of the Prime Minister, Mr. Jaitley said till 10.00 p.m. today no report had come either from the Governor or from the Chief Secretary. The events were described by him as a ``serious violation of Constitutional guarantees'' and ``to restore the Constitutional norms, the Government will decide what action needs to be taken.''

Earlier, the President, Mr. K. R. Narayanan, also spoke to Mr. Vajpayee and the Tamil Nadu Governor. Sources in the Rashtrapati Bhavan said he had received a number of fax messages from the DMK leaders and others since morning.

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