The Hindu : 'No deadline for govt. formation'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Oct 20, 2002

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'No deadline for govt. formation'

By Shujaat Bukhari

The Jammu and Kashmir Governor, G.C. Saxena, at a press conference in Srinagar on Saturday. — Photo: Nissar Ahmad

SRINAGAR OCT. 19. The Jammu and Kashmir Governor, Girish Chandra Saxena, today said that the doors were open for the political parties to come with a "credible claim" to form the government and there was no deadline now for forming one.

Explaining the reasons for the imposition of Governor's rule in the State, Mr. Saxena said that he tried all the options for having a new government in place before October 17. "Since the verdict was a fractured one, a fluid and complex situation was created," he told a news conference at the Raj Bhavan here.

"I took an initiative and wrote letters to the heads of three major political parties — the National Conference, the Congress and the People's Democratic Party (PDP) — and wanted to benefit from their views," said Mr. Saxena. "After the first round of talks with them I asked these parties to come by October 21 with all the relevant documents as evidence for the support of the required number of members in the House. However, on October 17, the former Chief Minister, Farooq Abdullah, expressed his inability to continue as caretaker head of the government. I told him that there is no such deadline in the Constitution requiring the Chief Minister to resign in the absence of a new government and he could consider continuing in office," he explained.

"But after he refused to continue, a situation of breakdown in constitutional machinery arose and I had to initiate action and could not avoid Governor's rule''.

Responding to a question, he said that it was not feasible to swear in a Chief Minister in three to four hours and since no claim was pending. The parties were free to come with the required numbers and stake their claim even beyond October 21. "The doors are open," he said. "I cannot say how long Governor's rule will continue. It could be short and even a bit longer but my effort will be to keep it shorter."

If the stalemate continued, it was for them (political parties) to continue the exercise to make a credible claim. But his administration would do whatever was possible to address the problems of the people and would not allow them to suffer on the account of the impasse.

Mr. Saxena said two members of the Assembly from Leh had already made it clear that they would not support any party thus reducing the numbers to 85.

The Governor said the State had seen difficult times from the Amarnath yatra to Independence Day and the elections and had successfully managed. But the threat at large continued, so was the infiltration.

Mr. Saxena had a detailed meeting with the Director-General of Police, Ashok K. Suri, Commander of Srinagar-based 15 Corps, Lt. Gen. V.G. Patankar, and other top officials.

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