Up Debate Postponed, Squabbles Continue

The political flux over the continuance of Uttar Pradesh Governor Romesh Bhandari was extended for another week yesterday, when the Lok Sabha business advisory committee decided to debate the BJPs motion demanding Bhandaris recall next Thursday.

The veiled clashes within the United Front and across the political spectrum, which Bhandaris performance has become the ostensible reason for jousting, will also now continue. The focus is on UF partners, primarily Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and the CPI, and on the Congress, which can play a pivotal role in the unstated war within the UF.

At least some UF leaders seemed to hope that UPCC President Jitdendra Prasada would persuade Congress chief Sitaram Kesari to adopt his anti-Bhandari line. The Congress has 140 members. If it says, through its president Sitaram Kesari, that Bhandari must go, we will have no option, said a senior UF leader after the UF steering committee meeting.

Kesari will have to decide whether he wants to earn Brownie points with the CPI, a leading Left party, or to help Mulayam Singh Yadav, whose support Kesari had counted on some weeks ago to form an alternative government.

The debate, which was expected to cause tremors not only in the UP administration but also in the corridors of national power, was initially expected to take place today. The debate had been given a keen edge by Speaker PA Sagmas decision to allow it to take place under Rule 184, which allows a vote.

Speaker PA Sangma told journalists after the BAC meeting that the debate would begin after the Zero Hour on March 20 and would spill over to the next day, the last before a months recess. Sangma said that a decision is yet to be taken on a proposal to have a sitting of the House on Saturday as well.

Giving reasons for not having set an earlier date for the debate, Sangma said it was because the session was primarily for the budget, and had to be given to financial matters. The railway budget is yet to be passed and there were several other financial matters to be taken up by the House.

Jaswant Singh said he was satisfied with the one-and-a-half days allotted for the debate. He claimed that the government wanted to postpone the debate for April 21 when the House reassembles after the month-long recess.

The Speaker however denied that there was any move from the government to defer the debate.

Congress Party in Parliament secretary Mrityunjay Nayak yesterday said that the issue would be discussed again after Kesari returned from Kerala.

The CPI, which in the centre of the controversy because Gupta is from that party, wants Bhandari to resign on his own. The party nurses a grudge against Bhandaris mentor, Yadav, who split its UP unit when he was the state Chief Minister.

CPI leader D Raja yesterday said that it was for Bhandari to respond to the discussion in Parliament. The CPI and some others in the Front might demand the recall of the Governor, but they are determined to vote unitedly to defeat the BJPs motion.

The Congress could hold the key. A walkout by its members might lead to victory for the BJP and deep embarrassment for the government without making it necessary for Gowda to resign.

A UF leader, however, reported that senior UF leaders were in touch with Congress leaders and Harkishen Singh Surjeet, Indrajit Gupta and Sharad Yadav had all three told the UF steering committee they were absolutely confident of Congress support against the motion since it was sponsored by the BJP.