Conference Called By President Begins Today

The two-day conference of governors and leaders of political parties convened for the first time by President Shanker Dayal Sharma begins today to discuss how to deal with a situation where no single party emerges with a clear majority.

The conference which met with mixed reaction from political parties and constitutional experts would discuss in detail what steps the constitutional heads should take in a situation where none of the political parties emerge with a clear cut majority.

It assumes significance in view of the last Lok Sabha elections where none of the parties were able to secure a majority and the President first invited BJP and subsequently the united front who had Congress support from outside for forming the government.

However, the situation in Uttar Pradesh sparked off protests from the BJP which felt that the Governor should have invited it to form the government as it was the single largest party.

While the Congress welcomed the move by the President to convene such a meeting, BJP president L K Advani had described it as unprecedented and that a Governor had informed him that they would feel inhibited at such a meeting. However, it was felt that such conference would help in formulating guidelines for future whether it is the President or the Governor. Whatever the outcome of the conference, the views expressed at such a meeting would help in setting into motion some practice or convention which can be used as the point of reference. Constitutional experts were of the view that there was no need for the convening of such a conference while others felt that it would at least set in motion a debate on the issue as in future some norms and guidelines can be followed government formation at the Centre.