Bihar: 17 years on, saffron man Keshari Nath Tripathi walks on familiar ground
History repeats itself, and that's one of the things that's interesting thing with history.
The current political crisis in Bihar – rebellion in ruling JD(U) ranks - presents a situation the legal intricacies of which will appear familiar to home minister Rajnath Singh and Bihar governor Keshari Nath Tripathi.
Interestingly, Singh and Tripathi are going to be arbiters this time as against the situation over 17 years ago in October 1997 where they were players involved in the machinations within UP Assembly. For a reminder, the events relate to the most horrific scenes of microphone snatching and throwing of tables within the state Assembly that remains etched among the black days of the annals of Indian legislative history.
Curiously, the arbiters that time at Centre were United Front Government headed by IK Gujaral where socialist leader Mulayam Singh had considerable sway. Mulayam, this time, is lending his support to his Janata Parivar brethren – Nitish and Sharad – with Singh and Tripathi in arbiter role.
The events date back to October 1997 when Mayawati breached the BSP’s promise to the BJP and pulled out her party’s support to Kalyan Singh-led government in UP bringing him on the verge of fall and threatening president’s rule – that was being vehemently nudged by Mulayam at the Centre.
Then came the masterstroke of the UP BJP chief Rajnath Singh who engineered defection in the BSP and the Congress ranks that resulted into two different breakaway factions Prajatantrik BSP and Loktantrik Congress respectively to beef up numerical majority for Kalyan Singh in the state Assembly. Interestingly, Loktantrik Congress leader Naresh Agarwal is now Rajya Sabha MP from Mulayam’s party now.
Mayawati escalated this split in her ranks and the issue was thrown in the court of UP state Assembly speaker Keshari Nath Tripathi, the legal master from Allahabad High Court and the BJP MLA. The formation of the BJP government with the help of these two breakaway factions had blessings from Atal Bihari Vajpayee and LK Advani.
Playing to the saffron script, Keshari Nathi Tripathi demonstrated his best legal acumen to thwart Mayawati’s effort to nullify the defection in favour of BJP to dislodge Kalyan Singh government. Ruling as a speaker, Tripathi upheld the split in the BSP ranks and justified it with such legal finesse that even the Supreme Court bench headed by justice MM Punchhi could not upturn his ruling. Thus, the tango between Singh and Tripathi ensured that saffron holding its government in the state from the political crisis that emerged after Mayawati’s pullout of support from Kalyan Singh government.
The then anti-defection laws required at least 23 MLAs from the BSP’s 67-member flock to defect to be considered as a separate entity or face disqualification. Only 17 MLAs eventually defected to support Kalyan Singh without drawing the wrath of anti-defection law. This was made possible by clever ruling given by Tripathi as speaker of the state Assembly, a BJP leader privy to that episode recounted to India Today.
Tripathi had punched several legal loopholes in Mayawati’s plea to the speaker seeking to nullify the defectors vote in favour of Kalyan Singh. His first objection, as speaker, was that the BSP had not officially appointed anyone as chief whip and consequently the whip issued by the BSP floor leader in the state Assembly had little relevance as the BSP constitution did not automatically vest the whip issuing power to the floor leader, a BJP leader privy to that episode recounted.
Even otherwise, speaker Tripathi pointed out that Mayawati had got her flock stage a walkout when the defectors, 17 in number stayed back. This incident, Tripathi is said to have ruled that made the BSP’s whip to party legislators infructuous as the whip had said that all members be present in the House to operate. Since, the BSP flock had staged out, the whip had become infructuous, and consequently will not apply to the defected MLAs who chose to lend their support to Kalyan Singh government.
As for drawing anti-defection law, as the 17 defected members did not constitute one-third (as was the norm then) of the 67-member BSP legislator group, speaker Keshari Nath Tripathi demonstrated his finest legal acumen clubbed with Rajnath Singh’s behind the scene machinations to save them from disqualification. In his ruling, Tripathi, a fine lawyer, had invoked a principle of "continuing split" to suggest that there had been double defection – first time more than one third members (29) of the BSP approaching to him and getting recognised and then second time, this new group getting split again (17) to remain the faction that eventually supported Kalyan Singh – and consequently avoided disqualification as demanded by Mayawati. While this double defection could have been a machination scripted by Rajnath Singh, the speaker demonstrated his legal acumen to justify the defection such a legal fashion that even Mayawati’s appeal in Supreme Court could not alter the ruling. The Supreme Court upheld the ruling of Tripathi.
If that was in October 1997, cut to February 2015, Tripathi is now acting governor of Bihar which is facing defection in ruling the JD(U) ranks with chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi himself rebelling while the party leader and former CM Nitish Kumar is petitioning Tripathi to demanding his oath citing how the JD(U) has elected him the legislature party leader. Even Bihar Assembly speaker UN Chaudhary had recognised Nitish’s election as the legislature party leader of the ruling party, but Patna High Court has stayed Bihar speaker’s decision and listed the matter for hearing a week later.
Given the political crisis in the state, home minister Rajnath Singh is learnt to be also keeping a watch on the situation. Both – Singh and Tripathi – must be amused by this turn of events given their experience over 17 years back. Incidentally, Nitish has got his block of MLAs to the Rashtrapati Bhavan to press for his government in Patna, Kalyan Singh and Rajnath Singh had similarly flown there MLAs (including the BSP and the Congress defectors) to Rashtrapati Bhavan on October 23 to press against Mulayam Singh’s attempt to get the BJP government dismissed then.
Notwithstanding Nitish’s political grouse that numbers are stacked in his favour, Tripathi will be amused the legal position of the current political situation in Bihar. Legally speaking, expulsion of Manjhi from the JD(U) and the election of a new legislature party leader may be part of internal affairs of JD(U), but the removal of the chief minister has to pass through a constitutional process of floor test.
Nitish should not expect Tripathi and Singh to deviate from the fine intricacies of legal positions on this matter. He, in fact, should demonstrate cleverness of Tripathi to go through the established procedures to make his act fail-proof. He should draw from the same episode over 17 years ago. Kalyan had virtually inducted every defector from the BSP and the Congress to form a jumbo ministry in UP to keep the BJP government afloat. Manjhi, who is now on a Mahabharata path, may try to engineer deeper divisions in Nitish’s flock by his offer of Cabinet expansion ahead of his floor test.
The BJP’s Delhi defeat, however, may bind the BJP leadership to not provide a long rope to Manjhi could be the saving grace Nitish needed against such possible machinations.