Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L. K. Advani on Thursday criticized Union Minister Shri Prakash Jaiswal’s remark that President’s rule could be imposed in Uttar Pradesh in the event of Congress not getting majority in Assembly poll and said such a move would be “misuse” of a constitutional provision”.
“What the Union Minister seems to be advocating is a misuse of a constitutional provision. President’s rule is supposed to be imposed only when there is a constitutional crisis and the government of the State concerned has become dysfunctional”, Mr. Advani told reporters here.
Without naming any particular party, he said “governments at the Centre prior to 1998, when the BJP came to power, have often been guilty of misuse of Article 356 of the Constitution, which is invoked for clamping President’s rule in a State”.
“Concerns about possible misuse of Article 356 were raised while the Constitution was being drafted. Bhim Rao Ambedkar had then allayed such fears as he foresaw no such danger. Unfortunately, he was proven wrong by successive regimes in the country and the provision was misused many times to settle scores with political opponents”, the former Deputy Prime Minister said.
Meanwhile, Mr. Jaiswal said his statement was “distorted” barely a few hours after having reportedly stated in Kanpur that “in case we don’t get majority, we sit in the opposition and I see no alternative to Governor’s rule”.
