news details |
|
|
| Defence Minister Antony springs a surprise | | Congress gives up pro-Central rule plan in UP | | BL KAK
NEW DELHI, FEB 22
The Congress high command has received a major setback, with the lack of required support from a majority of Congressmen and their allies in the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) to the idea favouring President's rule in Uttar Pradesh. And with the announcement of the poll schedule for UP by the Election Commission, the Congress party led by Sonia Gandhi is reported to have abandoned its move in favour of Central rule in the State.
This follows the expression of apprehension by a section of the Congress leaders that the move in support of President's rule could boomerang. A majority of senior Congress leaders were of the view that the move, which they feared could be blocked by President, APJ Abdul Kalam, in the inital stages, would embarrass the UPA government.
Acccording to knowledgeable sources, while a section of leaders, which they say is in a minority-- including party president Sonia Gandhi's son Rahul Gandhi-- want Presidential rule in Uttar Pradesh, the senior leaders are insisting that the government should not make such a move, especially after the Election Commission has announced poll dates for the State.
The Defence Minister, AK Antony, was reported to have conveyed his views against the move to Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday even as the Prime Minister and other Ministers contemplated the idea of enforcing Article 356 for President's rule. A senior Congress leader said: "No senior leader has the courage to tell Sonia Gandhi that such a move would boomerang on the party after the embarrassment the government had to face in Bihar and Jharkhand (where the imposition of President's rule had invited severe criticism). Rahul Gandhi also feels that Presidential rule would be good for the party during the conduct of elections".
Congress leaders, including several Congres Working Committee (CWC) members, feel that President Kalam's response to the move could be unfavourable. Sources at Rashtrapati Bhavan compared the current Uttar Pradesh situation to that in Bihar. The Supreme Court had strongly criticised a decision to impose President's rule in Bihar in 2005--something to which APJ Abdul Kalam had given his consent after a recommendation by then Governor, Buta Singh. An informed source said: "The President will be reluctant to see his name being dragged once again to the Supreme Court".
However, the Congress insisted that the Mulayam Singh Yadav government in UP should quit as it lost the "moral and constitutional right to continue in power" in the wake of the Supreme Court disqualifying 13 Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MLAs for defecting to the Mulayam Singh government in 2003. And despite desperate attempts by the Congress leaders, its Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) ally continues to be strongly opposed to the imposition of President's rule in Uttar Pradesh.
CPI-M, party general secretary, Prakash Karat, who met both Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and External Affairs Minister, Pranab Mukherjee, told them that his party would not support such a move and that it might damage its alliance with the United Progressive Alliance (UPA). However, he is believed to have told the Prime Minister that the Left Front would not withdraw its outside support to his government. Besides, he said the party could not afford upsetting its allies just ahead of the budget session.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
