Sack AIADMK Govt.: BJP

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI, JULY 1. Even as the Tamil Nadu BJP demanded the dismissal of the AIADMK Government, the national president, Mr. Jana Krishnamurthy, today charged that the Jayalalithaa regime had ``upset the delicate Constitutional balance'' between the State Government and the Centre, by arresting two Union Ministers, Mr. Murasoli Maran and Mr. T. R. Baalu.

In a shrill warning to the AIADMK Government, Mr. Krishnamurthy said that when the Tamil Nadu Government ``has chosen to function defying Constitutional provisions, it cannot be allowed to seek Constitutional protection''. The AIADMK regime had chosen to arrest Union Ministers which no State government had ``dared to do so far'', he told the media here.

Strongly criticising the arrests, he said the State Government could not enjoy Constitutional protection, if it did not respect the Constitution. What would prevent the Centre if it arrested the Ministers of the State Government, he asked.

Countering Ms. Jayalalithaa's statement that the Union Ministers had behaved like ``street rowdies'', Mr. Krishnamurthy said no Chief Minister had the ``monopoly'' to judge Central Ministers. ``If she has a case against the Union Ministers, she can approach the Prime Minister or the President, but not arrest them.''

As for the Governor, Ms. Fathima Beevi's report to the Centre on the dramatic developments in Tamil Nadu, the BJP leader felt that she should have sent it even without being asked for by the Union Home Secretary. ``Whatever might have happened, I expect the State Government to release the Union Ministers, the former Chief Minister and also the several DMK men arrested yesterday'', he said.

Meanwhile, the State BJP made a pitch for invoking Article 356 and imposing President's rule, as the AIADMK Government had ``lost Constitutional protection'' by resorting to the ``unprecedented arrest'' of the Union Ministers.

An emergency meeting of the State executive, in a resolution, said the midnight arrest of Mr. Karunanidhi, who was Chief Minister for 14 years, ``shocked'' the people. The police officials who arrested him behaved in a ``barbaric manner'' and humiliated the women members of his family, the executive charged.

The executive termed ``illegal'' and ``violative of individual's rights'' the act of police officials ``barging'' into the former Chief Minister's residence at dead of night.

Also, the Union Ministers were ``attacked'' to the extent of requiring hospitalisation. And it was ``shocking'' that the hospitalised Ministers were arrested.

For the first time in independent India, a State Government had ``exceeded its limits'' and arrested Ministers of Union Cabinet rank. ``By these actions, the State Government has lost its Constitutional protection''. Hence, Article 356 should be invoked, it urged.

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Section  : Southern States
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