JOIN USBihar Governor Kesri Nath Tripathi’s action in giving a long rope to Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi to prove his strength in the Assembly goes against common sense, propriety and constitutional principles. The governor has fixed February 20 for a floor test after inexplicably sitting on the demand of Janata Dal (U) leader Nitish Kumar for an urgent session of the House. It is clear that Manjhi has lost majority support in the House with the JD-U expelling him from the party and the legislature party electing Nitish Kumar as its leader. The crisis in the state has a clear constitutional remedy, as was prescribed by the Supreme Court in the Bommai case judgment and a number of other judgments. The prescription is that a government whose majority in the legislature has come into question should be immediately made to prove its strength in the House.
Any delay in holding a trial of strength in the Assembly would vitiate and defeat the constitutional purpose. It is clear that Nitish Kumar enjoys a comfortable majority with the support of 133 MLAs in an Assembly which has an effective strength of 243. He has the support of the RJD, the Congress and the CPI. Majhi’s rebel group has only 12 members and even with the support of the 87-member BJP he cannot claim majority in the House. But the BJP has an interest in ensuring that Nitish Kumar does not come back to power. It is no secret that the BJP is the force behind Manjhi’s rebellion and it is that party which will benefit by keeping Manjhi in the chief minister’s chair till the assembly elections which are to be held this year. Governor Tripathi, an appointee of the NDA government, has acted as the government’s agent to protect the interests of the party, and not as the President’s representative in the state who upholds the Constitution.
Nitish Kumar has demonstrated his support before the President. The JD-U leader’s charge that the governor is playing a script prepared in Delhi is substantiated by the latter’s conduct. The Governor should have directed Majhi to prove his strength in the House within a day or two of the issue of majority support coming up. If Manjhi did not comply with, he should have been dismissed. The one week given to Manjhi is only meant to give him and the party that supports him enough time for horse-trading. Ironically, Tripathi’s partisan decision came on a day when the President told the governors that any deviation from constitutional principles would weaken the country’s democratic fabric.