LALU TO MOVE SC OVER GUV NOT INVITING RJD FOR FORMING GOVT

NEW DELHI: RJD supremo Lalu Prasad is set to take the battle for Bihar to the Supreme Court, challenging governor Kesrinath Tripathi’s decision to invite Nitish Kumar to form the government.

Prasad claims that propriety required the governor should have called on the single largest party to form the government. “We’re considering an appeal in the Supreme Court against the governor’s decision. We are taking legal advice and will move court after that,” Prasad said.

Bihar saw surcharged political maneuvering after Nitish resigned on Wednesday as CM to protest against his deputy and Prasad’s son, Tejashwi Yadav, who has stayed on in the Cabinet despite being named in an FIR over corruption charges.

Nitish’s JD(U) teamed up with BJP and staked claim to form the government in the state. On Thursday, Nitish took oath as CM and BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi joined as deputy CM.

But independent legal experts believe even though the concept of single party issue is a vexed one, the decision to fight the legal battle may not yield much. They say there is nothing illegal about the governor’s action and Prasad’s claim that since RJD was the single largest party in Bihar, it should have been invited to form the government may not hold much weight.

Senior advocate Dr Rajeev Dhawan said, “The idea of a single largest party comes after election, after a crisis comes the concept of who has the larger and a stable combination – So the governor has the discretion to call on a combination or party who will enjoy majority on the floor...”

Senior advocate Sanjay hedge also is of the opinion that “there is no obligation on the governor to call on the leader of the largest party at this moment”.

The governor’s job is to find someone who will enjoy majority on the floor of the house and he has material before him to believe that the person sworn in will provide a stable government. But the governor has to ask the sworn-in to prove the majority as soon as possible.