The Hindu : Governor recommends President's Rule in U.P.

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Mar 07, 2002

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Governor recommends President's Rule in U.P.
By Harish Khare

NEW DELHI, MARCH 6. The Governor of Uttar Pradesh, Vishnu Kant Shastri has recommended to the President, K.R. Narayanan that the State be brought under the President's Rule as there was no possibility of a stable government from the newly-elected but hung Assembly. The Governor's report, recommending that the State Assembly be kept under suspended animation, was brought to Delhi from Lucknow by a special messenger late tonight.

Exercising his discretion under Article 356 of the Constitution, the Governor, in his detailed report, has informed the President that in his judgment no political party was in a position to have a working majority. Mr. Shastri is believed to have pointed out that even though Mulayam Singh Yadav of the Samajwadi Party has staked his claim to form the government on the strength of being the single largest party he was unable to produce a list of legislators who would have supported his government. The Governor had fixed today as the last day by which time he would have finished exploring the possibility of a new government.

Giving details of the legislative numbers notched up by each party in last month's election, Mr. Shastri is believed to have brought it to the President's attention that the BJP had announced its intention to sit in the Opposition and that the BSP had declared that it would not support a Samajwadi party government. The Congress was unwilling to give an undertaking that it would support Mr. Yadav till such time as the Samajwadi Party could demonstrate it had mopped up additional numbers to make up a working legislative majority.

The Union Cabinet is likely to recommend to the President that the Governor's report be accepted. However, the Presidential Proclamation would have to be approved by the two houses of Parliament within two months.

The Governor's report and its almost certain acceptance is a replay of the events in 1996, when the electorate had given an equally fractured verdict. The then ruling United Front summarily rejected the Congress proposal that Ms. Mayawati's claim to form the government be supported by the secular forces (Mr. Yadav and the Congress) in order to prevent the BJP from sneaking in through the back door. Mr. Yadav's recalcitrance ensured President's Rule was declared and gave just the elbow room for the BJP to broker a deal with Ms. Mayawati. The BJP's central leadership is hoping to use the next couple of months to do a repeat performance.

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