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Congress too demands President's rule in Bihar

Close on the heels of its political rival the Janata Dal-United, the Congress has demanded President's rule in Bihar for the smooth conduct of the coming assembly elections in the state. A free and fair election was not possible under the present regime, Jharkhand's Congress leaders said in Ranchi. They charged the Rabri Devi government with having unleashed a reign of terror in Bihar.

Incidentally, the Congress had opposed the imposition of President's rule in the state by the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government a year ago. The party had then said that it was against allowing the communal forces to gain political ground in the state. The Congress which since then has withdrawn its support to the Rashtriya Janata Dal government is demanding the invocation of Article 356.

The Congress has even opposed the RJD's Bihar bandh called against the bifurcation of the state. The demand for President's rule was made by the Congress at a press conference in Ranchi which was addressed by the Jharkhand Regional Congress Committee chief Shushila Kerketta and working president and legislator Furkan Ansari.

The two Congress leaders, reiterating the party's stand on Jharkhand, said it had taken up the issue at the national level and was serious about the creation of the new state. The Congress even planned to bring an adjournment motion in the Lok Sabha against the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance for its alleged failure to bring the Bihar State Reorganisation Bill and two other legislations seeking the creation of Uttarakhand and Chattisgarh in Parliament's current session, they added.

They also charged the NDA with misleading the people of the three proposed states by delaying legislation on the pretext that they had to be drafted afresh as the ones moved earlier had lapsed with the dissolution of the 12th Lok Sabha.

UNI

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