Home   Contact Us                                                                     Dateline New Delhi, Monday, May 23, 2005

 

 


Main Page                                                       Archive

 

Bihar Assembly dissolved, polls likely in July-Aug

     New Delhi: President APJ Abdul Kalam today accepted Bihar Governor Buta Singh's recommendation of dissolution of the State Assembly. Buta Singh recommended dissolution of the Assembly while alleging that horse-trading was going on on a large scale in the state for government formation. The President is on a tour to Russia. Buta Singh is learnt to have spoken to him over phone to forward his recommendation. Meanwhile, the NDA has taken a strong exception to the latest development claiming that the move was taken intentionally so as to pre-empt the BJP-JD-U's bid to form government in the state under the leadership of JD-U leader Nitish Kumar. An NDA meeting has been convened at the Alliance's Chairman Atal Bihari Vajpayee's house to finalse its next strategy. One option that the NDA would be mulling would be moving the court while pleading that they were in a position to form the next government, but the Governor denied them the chance. Following the development, the Centre has urged the Election Commission to initiate the process to hold Assembly polls in the state. The EC has six months' time to hold the polls, but the UPA is said to be insisting on early polls. The next Assembly elections are likely to take place in July-August.

Midnight approval for Bihar dissolution comes from Moscow (Go To Top)
by Rajesh Kumar Sinha

     Moscow: President Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, who is in Moscow at the first leg of his four-nation tour had a late midnight call from Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh yesterday. Dr. Singh woke up the President at 1.00 am IST at Hotel Baltscug Keminski to seek his approval for dissolution of Bihar Assembly, as decided by the Union Cabinet again late in the night. The Presidential decree was then faxed to him at about 3.30 am (IST), which came back with Dr. Kalam's signatures early this morning. The Union Cabinet, which was hurriedly convened to take stock of the twin bomb blasts in two cinema halls in New Delhi had an improptu discussion on the Bihar situation at RJD leader and Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav's bidding, who prevailed upon the Centre for dissolution of the state assembly. Lalu's worst fears were that the break-away faction of Lok Jantantrik Party (LJP) would end up in the NDA camp, paving the way for a government of NDA in his backyard, which he ruled for the last one and a half decades.

Lalu forces fresh elections in Bihar (Go To Top)

     New Delhi: With Ramvilas Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party breaking up and the possibility of NDA cobbling up the magic figure in the 243 member Bihar Assembly becoming imminent, Railway Minister and Rashtriya Janta Dal (RJD) leader Lalu Prasad Yadav seems to have prevailed upon the Union Cabinet to recommend dissolution of the state assembly, which was in suspended animation. For Paswan, who put up a brave front even as rebel party MLAs travelled to neighbouring Jharkhand and later to Orissa, it was clear that the ground was slipping beneath him, to the advantage of the NDA. As the possibility of rebel LJP MLAs heading to the NDA camp became clear, Home Minister Shivraj Patil sought a report from the State Governor Buta Singh, who was camping in the capital. Armed with Governor's report, the Cabinet, at a late night meeting, decided to accept Lalu's demand to dissolve the state assembly and got the stamp of the President, who was on a visit to Russia. "The Governor clearly suggested that the House should be dissolved in order to stop the unconstitutional, illegal and unacceptable activities of the people and to see that the atmoshpere does not get polluted," said Patil conveying the decision of the Cabinet after a late night meeting. He said now the ball is in the court of Election Commission, which will announce the dates for fresh polls.

     The Opposition BJP on the other hand accused the government of playing into the hands of Bihar strongman Lalu Prasad Yadav. "The government was playing under the instructions of Lalu Prasad Yadav, whose party was outrightly rejected by the people," said BJP Vice President Venkaiah Naidu. Naidu said there was no constitutional break down in the state and the assembly was to be constituted within six months of elections. "The political parties should have been given time to come a consensus," rued Naidu. The state which went to polls in March had thrown up a hung assembly with Lalu Prasad Yadav's RJD emerging as the largest group. When no political alliance could muster the required number of 122 for majority, the Governor recommended to the Centre the imposition of President's rule in the state and kept the assembly in suspended animation. Describing it as a shameless act, Naidu said NDA will agitate against the move. "This is a shameless act by the government and this will lead to the return of Lalu-Rabri Raj. We have called a meeting of the NDA and we will protest against this action," said Naidu. The RJD has maintained that Ram Vilas Paswan should have realised he was an ally in the UPA coalition. According to party spokesman Shivanand Tiwary, Paswan should have tried to form a government with his other partners at the Centre, the Congress and the RJD, and not tried to keep Lalu Yadav out of government formation. "It is unfortunate. LJP should realise it's an ally of the UPA. Just like they sit in Parliament together, they should have tried to work out an alliance. It's a failure on our part too," said Tiwary.

RJD will face election with Congress: Lalu Prasad Yadav  (Go To Top)
by Balesh Dhankhar

     New Delhi: Rastriya Janta Dal chief and Union Railway minister Lalu Prasad Yadav has welcomed the President's decision of dissolving the Bihar assembly. Briefing the newsmen late this morning Lalu said RJD will go back to people again with the Congress. Lalu said that the NDA was "continuously indulging in horse- trading" and the dissolution is better for the people of Bihar. He hoped that the RJD-Congress alliance will get a clean majority this time. "RJD will give more seats in elections to Congress to make the collation more efficient, " he added. "Continuously Ram Vilas Paswan was holding talks with the NDA partner Nitish Kumar for government formation in the State. The key to forming a government, which he claimed, was stolen by the NDA, which always boasts of ethics. They were doing horse trading and they took 19 MLAs of the LJP and they were taken to Ranchi, lured by the BJP. This way they were murdering democracy," said Lalu Prasad Yadav. Earlier this morning President APJ Abdul Kalam accepted the recommendation of the Union Cabinet on dissolution of Bihar Assembly. The Cabinet accepted Bihar Governor Buta Singh's recommendation for dissolution of the Assembly to prevent "horse- trading". About the schedule of forthcoming assembly elections Union Home Minister, Shivraj Patil said, "Once the House is dissolved, the Election Commission has to decide when elections will take place". Reacting to the dissolution of assembly The BJP has threatened to agitate against the dissolution. BJP Vice President Venkaiah Naidu has said the dissolution of the assembly is a shameless act. "This is a shameless act by the Government and this will lead to the return of Lalu-Rabri Raj. We have called a meeting of the NDA and we will protest against this action," said Naidu. The Bihar assembly was in limbo since being constituted in the February poll. President rule was imposed in Bihar in March after the feuding parties failed to present a majority following an inconclusive State poll.

References: Bihar assembly dissolved polls Moscow election RJD Congress Lalu Prasad Yadav, Paswan expels rebel MLAs, cinema blast UPA anniversary Shivraj Patil, CDs joh bole so nihal, NSCN IM, Baghdad car blast, democracy Nepal, mobile sans gizmos, Veselin Topalov triumph Anand second, Panchatantra British audience, Nazi Spielberg, Paris Hilton feeding pigeons London, muscle suit Christensen bulk up Star Wars, Revenge of the Sith box office, Kylie birthday bash, Imran Khan romancing Goldie Hawn, Jackson Neverland, French Diana kidney, Destiny's Child, India, India News, Newspaper, Indian, News, Travel News, India Travel Times, Travel,Tourism, Tour, Tourist, India, Times, News, Hotels, Airlines, Ayurveda, Yoga, Hindu, Taj Mahal, Cuisine, Festival, Temple, Trekking, Hindu, Bharatanatyam, Kathakali, Odissi, Dance, Shimla,Varanasi, Kullu, Manali, Dehra Dun, Mussourie, Mussoorie, Haridwar, Hardwar, Rishikesh, Nainital, Delhi, Goa, Kovalam, Darjeeling, Bodh Gaya, Kancheepuram, Kanchipuram, Thekkady, Badrinath, Amar Nath,Vaishno Devi, Tirupati, Sabarimala, Guruvayoor, Kanyakumari, Kodaikanal, Ooty, Chennai,

     Previous File                 Go To Top
Home    Contact Us
NOTE:  Free contributions of articles and reports may be sent to editor@indiatraveltimes.com
DISCLAIMER
All Rights Reserved ©indiatraveltimes.com