Many options on Bihar: govt

NEW DELHI, March 1 (PTI) — The government today claimed that it had many options on the Bihar issue, including judicial review, in the wake of Lok Sabha ratifying President’s rule in the state.

Railway Minister and Samata Party leader Nitish Kumar told reporters in Patna that a number of options were open to the government and a final decision on tabling the presidential proclamation in Rajya Sabha, where the ruling coalition is in a minority, depended on the Union Cabinet.

Ruling out the possibility of revoking the proclamation "under pressure", he said the government faced no crisis after having obtained an overwhelming support for the President’s rule in the Lok Sabha.

He appealed to the Congress to reconsider its stand even now and support the statutory resolution in the Rajya Sabha.

His colleague and Parliamentary Affairs Minister P.R. Kumaramangalam said in Chennai the government had multiple options but he would not talk about them until the Cabinet decided the course of action.

He said the constitutional position was that President’s rule would lapse only after two months on April 12 even if it was not approved by the Rajya Sabha.

Mr Kumaramangalam denied media reports that the Congress was not serious in voting in the Lok Sabha against the resolution on ratifying the President’s rule in Bihar and alleged the main opposition party even resorted to a bogus voting but failed to topple the government.

Meanwhile, a prominent CWC member today said that Ms Rabri Devi should be replaced as the Bihar Chief Minister once the RJD rule was restored in the state but the AICC dismissed suggestions saying that it had nothing to do with the issue.

"We still maintain that the Rabri Devi government should resign owning moral responsibility and the RJD should come back to the saddle", Mr Tariq Anwar, former AICC General Secretary, told a private TV channel.