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The Rediff Interview/Romesh Bhandari

'Tell me, why must I resign?'

Some people remain incorrigible. And Uttar Pradesh Governor Romesh Bhandari is one, so much so that he was described in a recent editorial as a 'constitutional history-sheeter'.

Perhaps, just as the list of controversies to his credit are unparalleled, so is his art of survival.

No matter how much he is criticised and condemned, he always finds a saviour who shields him from being crucified.

If both the Congress and Samajwadi Party had been critical of him for not dismissing the Kalyan Singh-led government forthwith after the Bahujan Samaj Party broke away from the coalition in October last, the two are lobbying for him today, when he has earned the wrath of President K R Narayanan.

The President is understood to be sore with him because of his blatantly partisan dismissal of the Kalyan Singh government, without extending him an opportunity for a floor test in the state assembly -- something that even the country's apex court found unfair -- and hastily swearing in Jagadambika Pal as the new chief minister in a matter of hours.

But nothing seems to faze or bother the 68-year old diplomat-turned-politician-governor, who after retiring from the coveted position of India's foreign secretary, has only seen his graph rising. And once again, as always, he is out to defend his controversial actions with impunity, as is spelt out in this exclusive interview with Sharat Pradhan.

Why is that you are at the core of every controversy?

How am I to blame for it if some people believe in dragging me into controversies created by a figment of their imagination?

Do you mean to say you find nothing wrong with whatever you did recently?

Whatever I did, was strictly in keeping with the provisions of the Constitution. There was no way other than dismissing a government that had clearly fallen short of the desired support. And then every party other than the BJP and it ally, the Samata Party, had categorically written to me that they were with Jagdambika Pal, so I had to swear him in.

You simply took Jagdambika Pal and company at their word?

Well, they furnished a list of 221 members together with letters from leaders of each of the supporting parties. And Kalyan Singh did not even care to present his list of supporters; instead he made vague claims and baseless allegations about the list submitted by his opponents as being false. But there was nothing to substantiate his arguments.

But doesn't the haste with which you got Jagdambika Pal installed as the new CM arouse suspicion about your impartiality? After all, as Mr Vajpayee said, the heavens would not have fallen if you had waited for a day or two.

Tell me, what would I have done if I had not sworn in Pal and his new government? It was a crucial hour, with polling due on the very next day. The state could not have remained without a government or under a government that would be there only in namesake. I would have had to face charges of letting a government that had lost its majority to continue in office and indulge in misuse of government machinery in the election. Then, all these BJP rivals were camping at Raj Bhavan threatening not to leave until I dismissed the Kalyan Singh ministry and install the new government.

Why did you prefer to allow all the indulgence to the BJP's rivals, as everyone is talking about the misuse of government machinery in ensuring the record polling in Sambhal, from where your friend Mulayam Singh Yadav was contesting the election?

If anything went wrong in Sambhal, why did they not go to the Election Commission? When the Commission took note of complaints about Baghpat, where repolling was ordered in a number of booths, the same would have been done in Sambhal, in case there was any truth in the allegations.

But do you deny that you have a special affinity with Mulayam Singh Yadav?

Well, I have affinity with so many people, and mind you, today, when some people are trying to corner me, my actions are being defended, not only by Mulayam, but also by the Congress, BSP as well as the Left parties. Now that's a canard being spread by the BJP in their typical RSS style of repeating a lie, until it is believed as the gospel truth. May I ask them to prove what is it so special that I have done for Mulayam?

Yet can you deny that you have your own prejudices against the BJP?

Rather, they have their biases against me.

Loktantrik Congress Party leader Naresh Agarwal has accused you of playing the pivotal role in hatching a conspiracy against the Kalyan Singh government.

That is an absolutely wild and baseless charge. In fact, I am told that he has even gone to the extent of alleging that I offered him a crore of rupees. ( laughs) If I had that kind of money, I'd rather keep it with me than part with it!

There is much talk about your defying the directives of the President in dismissing the Kalyan Singh government, without giving him an opportunity for a floor test.

How can I even think of defying the President?

Does it mean that the President never conveyed his views to you in that regard?

Well, I would not like to drag the highest office of the President into this messy controversy

Isn't this the second occasion within a span of four months that your actions have found the President's disapproval?

I have explained my position very clearly already.

But some of your ardent supporters have charged the President with playing partisan against you, while many tend to believe that it was due to some professional rivalry between the two of you as you made it to the foreign secretary while he could not...

That is utter nonsense. Its true that we both belonged to the Indian Foreign Service, he was my senior colleague; it's true that I became the foreign secretary while he retired as India's ambassador to China. But let me tell you, we have always been the best of friends and there is no question of his holding any prejudice against me.

You have been defending your action, but neither the high court nor the Supreme Court upheld it; both preferred a test on the floor of the House.

I welcome the Supreme Court verdict. My main objective was to see that no side gets undue advantage by virtue of being in office. Now the court has allowed equal opportunity to the two claimants This is a decision that no governor could have taken. In fact, it is an innovative and salutary decision which would strengthen our democratic processes and which would now deal with unique situations as have prevailed in UP.

Have you been asked to step down, or would you resign on your own?

Certainly not! And tell me, why must I resign?

The Rediff Interviews