NEWSLINKS
US EDITION
COLUMNISTS
DIARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ELECTION 99
ELECTIONS
ARCHIVES

Search Rediff

Governor needs 36 hours to decide Bihar's fate

Tara Shankar Sahay in New Delhi

The Rashtriya Janata Dal-led 'secular' alliance and the National Democratic Alliance today waited with bated breath for the invitation from the Patna Raj Bhawan. Both blocs claim to have the requisite number (163) to form the next government.

"We are confident of forming the government because the NDA has more than the requisite numbers," said newly chosen chief ministerial candidate and senior Samata Party politician Nitish Kumar. "Lalooji [RJD chief] can claim whatever he wants, but we will prove we have the numerical strength when the summons comes from the governor."

Laloo Prasad Yadav was no less strident (Click for interview). "We are ahead of the NDA as proved in the just concluded assembly election and the governor will invite us to form the government," he told television cameras. "Even the case in Karnataka involving the S R Bommai government is favourable to us. Besides, independent legislators are entirely in our favour. Therefore there is no question of our being not invited."

But Governor Vinod Chandra Pande did not seem to be in a hurry to decide on the electoral bone of contention. Reports said he was considering even the "minutest" detail before arriving at a decision.

According to officials in the Union home ministry, the governor has noted the reluctance of parties like the Congress and the Communist Party of India to touch either the RJD or NDA.

Congress chief Sonia Gandhi said her party was still deciding on the vital issue and would consult the Bihar unit. The Congress dilemma can be understood: some partymen are for supporting the RJD while others are dead against it. Thus, it is clear that the Congress leadership has taken note of Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee chief Sadanand Singh and Congress Legislature Party leader Ramashray Prasad Singh.

While Sadanand Singh had mooted the unlikely proposition of the RJD supporting a Congress government in Bihar (the RJD won 122 while the Congress bagged just 23), Ramashray Singh has warned the party leadership not to have any truck with "the corrupt and casteist RJD".

This is something the high command cannot ignore, especially since it seems to have burnt its fingers by having an alliance with the RJD during last year's parliamentary poll.

The CPI's resolve to maintain equidistance from both blocs has further aggravated the situation for the governor. CPI leaders, including general secretary Ardhendu Bardhan, stated yesterday that their party would not support either side.

But the CPI-Marxist, which is an ally of the RJD, is hopeful of bringing the reluctant CPI round to support an RJD-led government "comprising secular entities", party general secretary and troubleshooter Harkishen Singh Surjeet has said.

Surjeet told reporters that the secular parties were unanimous in their opinion that communal forces, represented by the BJP, should be stopped at all costs in Bihar. Therefore, when the crunch comes on the issue of preventing the NDA from "seizing power", he would do everything within his resources to ensure that the CPI fell in line.

For the NDA too, the road to power is strewn with obstacles. While the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, which bagged 12 seats, has indicated that it will support the NDA, JMM chief Shibu Soren yesterday threw in a rider by contending that his party would only extend support to the BJP-led alliance if he was made chief minister.

The Bihar scenario has become all the more suspenseful with the 15 independent legislators keeping their cards close to their chest. But that has not prevented the RJD-led bloc and the NDA from claiming to enjoy their support.

Home ministry officials pointed out the governor "will need at least another 36 hours" to decide who will rule Bihar.

Election 2000

Tell us what you think of this report