Ranchi, March 25: BJP leaders today bristled at the governor for playing ?his old tricks?.
Alluding to the governor swearing in JMM leader Shibu Soren as the chief minister a year ago, they felt that Governor Syed Sibtey Razi had acted in a partisan manner while seeking the Election Commission?s opinion on petitions seeking disqualification of NDA legislators for allegedly holding offices of profit.
The governor, however, did a balancing act on Saturday when he forwarded a similar petition to the commission against five UPA legislators in the state, belonging to the Congress and the JMM.
But bitter NDA leaders continued their tirade against Razi. He should have made preliminary inquiries, they said, and verified the allegations at his level first before seeking the election commission?s opinion. Accusing the Raj Bhavan of furnishing half-baked information to the commission, BJP legislator Sarayu Roy said: ?It would have been better if he had first gathered all available information from the legislators themselves, the government or the Assembly. ?
Clearly caught on the wrong foot by the governor seeking the commission?s opinion, even before the government could rush through a bill yesterday removing the disqualifications, irate NDA leaders recalled Razi?s role a year ago when he had invited Soren to head a short-lived government.
Even the commission, they added bitterly, has been complaining of the shabby nature of the complaints forwarded by the governor, they claimed. While the chief election commissioner, B.B. Tandon, has said the petitions are supported by inadequate evidence, NDA legislators accused Razi of undermining the dignity of his office. Chief minister Arjun Munda said righteously: ?Everybody holding constitutional posts should see to it that the dignity of their office is not compromised.?
Roy, who is one of the NDA legislators accused of holding an office of profit, said: ?A year ago Razi had failed to put a UPA government on the saddle despite his best and partisan efforts. Therefore, it is not surprising that we do nurse misgivings and we apprehend that he is again working with similar designs in mind.? He has already shot off a letter to the Election Commission, Roy said, complaining of the misleading and incomplete information furnished by the governor.
The Election Commission is likely to follow the same set of procedures as it did in the Jaya Bachchan case. It is first expected to scrutinise the documentary evidence against the legislators; and thereafter seek their replies. There is little likelihood of the issue getting resolved in a matter of weeks or months, said observers, since each legislator will also have to be given an opportunity to be heard.
