Former Bharatiya Janata Party president and leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, L K Advani, has sought the resignation of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Bihar Governor Buta Singh in the wake of the Supreme Court judgment on Tuesday.
"Looking at the language and phrases used by the SC, the accusation may seem harsher against the governor but the culpability of prime minister is evidently even greater," Advani said while addressing newsmen at his residence.
Complete Coverage: The Bihar Polls
On Buta's statement that he would not resign from his post following the SC verdict, Advani said that such actions amounted to gross contempt of court.
"I did not see the television interview of Buta Singh but I am told that he said there was no question of he resigning and that instead he would be taking salute during the Republic Day parade in Patna on January 26. Any other person would have tendered his resignation," Advani observed.
Advani charged that if Buta was guilty of misleading the government in his report recommending dissolution of the Bihar assembly, the Union government should have cross-checked it.
"The apex court found it strange that the Centre did not verify the claims of the governor. The prime minister is responsible because it was he who had summoned the late night meeting of the Union cabinet, which had cleared the imposition of President's Rule in the state, " he said.
"It was the prime minister who misled the President into signing an unconstitutional document, dissolving the state assembly and denying the formation of a new ministry in Bihar when there was no evidence of horse trading," Advani added.
Advani said that the apex court's detailed order had not cleared the government as was being claimed by the Congress party. "In respect to the role of the central government, the Supreme Court is discreet and its observations polite but that does not mean that the Union government has been cleared of any wrong doing," he said.
Talking about the apex court's observations that only eminent people should be made governors, Advani said that though the issue was discussed in the inter-state council meeting during the National Democratic Alliance government's tenure, all political parties had rejected it.
"We have no problem in having an other debate on Centre-state relations as recommended by Justice R S Sarkaria Commission," he said, adding that as the Chairman of the United Progressive Alliance, Sonia Gandhi cannot escape responsibility and that she too should resign.
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