JOIN USBihar has been thrown into a political crisis with chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi rebelling against party leader Nitish Kumar and recommending dissolution of the state assembly.
Nitish Kumar had stepped down as chief minister after the poor performance of the JD(U) in the Lok Sabha elections last year and made Manjhi his successor as a stopgap arrangement.
But the protégé developed political ambitions and started asserting himself and has now challenged his mentor. He has not kept his links with the BJP a secret. The BJP, which did well in the Lok Sabha elections, is looking forward to a strong show in the assembly elections to be held later this year.
The political picture in the state has, in fact, changed considerably since the last elections, with the JD(U), the RJD of Lalu Prasad and other Janata Parivar parties coming together.
The issue of immediate interest in the situation is the state governor’s responses to Manjhi’s recommendation for dissolution of the House and to the claim of Nitish Kumar to be sworn in as chief minister.
Nitish has been elected leader by a majority of the JD(U) legislature party. West Bengal governor Kesri Nath Tripathi is now holding charge of Bihar too. Manjhi’s recommendation, in the first place, is improper and unethical, because it is not backed by a cabinet resolution.
Most ministers had walked out of the meeting which was held to consider the resolution. Moreover, Manjhi has probably lost majority support in the assembly. The governor should ask him to prove his majority in the assembly before considering and acting on his recommendation. Nitish has officially conveyed his claim of majority support in the House to the governor.
The best precedents and judicial pronouncements from the Supreme Court make it incumbent on the governor to ask the chief minister to prove his majority in the assembly.
On a previous occasion in Bihar itself, the Supreme Court had criticised then governor Buta Singh in 2005 for his move to dissolve the state assembly without allowing Nitish
Kumar, who had majority support, to form a government.
The court had termed the governor’s attempts as illegal and unconstitutional. According to the Bommai case judgment also, the governor cannot take a decision on a chief minister’s majority sitting in the Raj Bhavan.
The BJP may have an interest in holding early elections in the state under Manjhi’s chief ministership. But it will be unfair and illegal on the part of the governor to accept Manjhi’s recommendation without a test of the chief minister’s majority.