In the war of nerves between Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav and Governor T.V. Rajeswar, Yadav has been outmanoeuvred.While no official reason for the same was forthcoming, insiders believe constitutional experts being consulted by the state government did not advise a course of action that was bound to precipitate a constitutional crisis.
With the Cabinet formally putting its approval to what had been hinted by Speaker Mata Prasad Pandey earlier in the evening while briefing mediapersons finally brought to end two days of unprecedented political activity that included four Cabinet meetings, endless closed-door meetings and press briefings.
The crisis arising out of the three Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) ministers quitting the government on January 9 got completely deflected when the Governor chose to ignore the state Cabinet recommendation made the same night for reconvening of the Assembly session from January 15.
Instead, the Governor formally prorogued the Assembly session on
an earlier recommendation made by the state Cabinet on January 3, starting a fresh battle in the ongoing war between the state government and the Raj Bhavan.Besides the questionable legal status of the state Cabinet decision to convene a Vidhan Sabha session by amending its earlier decision to prorogue the House, there was little support forthcoming from any of the political parties on this count.
Leader of the Opposition Lalji Tandon expressing his displeasure over the course of events had said that he would formally get his views recorded in the proceedings if and when the session was convened.
Congress spokesperson A.K. Singh also criticised the state government for doing something “unparliamentary and unconstitutional”. According to him what the Governor did was completely within his rights and expecting him to toe the state government’s line was not fair.
An indication of the state government reconsidering its earlier decision came when the Speaker agreed to review it if he got the Governor’s letter announcing the prorogation of the just concluded monsoon session.
However, earlier in the day Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav spat fire against the Congress over its move to postpone Assembly elections “by at least a year by trying to get President’s Rule imposed in the state with the help of the Governor”.
Addressing the All-India Kurmi Swabhiman rally, Yadav had charged the Congress of trying to rule through the Governors the states where they had no hold of their own.
