NDA is a divided house over invoking Article 356

NEW DELHI: That the BJP and its allies are not on the same page on the question of imposing President’s rule in UP was evident on Monday evening when JD(U) leader and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar said his party was against dislodging the Mulayam Singh government through the Article 356 route. Mr Kumar made this statement barely hours after BJP president Rajnath Singh dared the Congress to sack Mr Yadav.

“The Manmohan Singh government is worried about the Left’s stance and fears that any precipitative action on this front might trigger the collapse of the ruling alliance at the Centre,’’ said Rajnath, who held his first press conference earlier in the day after being re-elected as the party president in December last.

The BJP president had a tough time fending off charges that his party had a tacit pact with the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh — as proved by the continuation of its state unit chief Kesarinath Tripathi as the Assembly speaker long after the collapse of the BSP-BJP alliance government — and that his party was ploughing a lonely furrow on the ‘sack-Mulayam’ demand.

“Tripathiji quit the post after a new Speaker was elected in Uttar Pradesh,’’ Mr Singh countered. At the press conference, he had claimed that NDA convenor George Fernandes’ opposition to the demand for imposing President’s rule in Uttar Pradesh were his personal views, and not that of the opposition alliance.

But Nitish Kumar’s assertion that his party will oppose the resolution imposing President’s rule in Parliament clearly showed that the BJP walked the extra mile without taking the allies into confidence.

Mr Kumar’s party is certain to stick to its position against the use of Article 356, and this could push the BJP into a lonely corner. Other parties in the NDA like the Akali Dal and the BJD are opposed to central interventions.
Rajnath’s stand on President’s rule showed that the BJP president was not quite clued in to the dynamics of the NDA.

The present BJP leadership does not enjoy the same standing its predecessors had in intra-alliance dealings. On the other hand, Mr Kumar enjoys a clout within the NDA that is not matched by many BJP leaders. But the BJP president kept harping that President’s rule alone can set things right in UP.

“It is clear that the state government has failed to control law and order in the state. As proof, you only have to look at the developments in Nithari in neighbouring Noida. The state administration was involved in a massive cover-up. The government has no right to continue in power,’’ Mr Singh maintained.

The BJP, he said, had for the past one-and-a-half years been crying itself hoarse about the prevalence of jungle-raj in the state. ``The Congress, however, remained indifferent to our demand. It was backing the Mulayam Singh Yadav government in the state till a month ago,’’ Mr Singh said.

The Congress, he alleged, was not really concerned about the plight of the people in Uttar Pradesh. ``It is scared that the Marxists might withdraw support to the Manmohan Singh government at the centre.

That is why the Congress has been dragging its feet on the demand for the ouster of the Samajwadi Party government,’’ the BJP president contended. He charged the Congress with betraying the people’s trust in Uttar Pradesh, and said that if it was really serious about proving its commitment, it should press for the immediate dismissal of the Mulayam Singh government.