In the end there was no constitutional crisis as feared. The Tamil Nadugovernor, Fathima Beevi, administered the oath of office to J. Jayalalithawithout any of the drama that was expected to be played out. As expected, usualnoises were made -- with the BJP and its NDA allies criticising and her alliesstoutly defending the action as constitutional and reflective of respect topeople's verdict.
Earlier, BJP president Jana Krishnamurthy told reporters here thatJayalalitha couldnot become chief minister even if she was elected leader ofAIADMK legislature party until all cases against her are cleared.
"Even if Jayalalitha is elected leader of the legislature party takingadvantage of the law that a person can become chief minister before gettingelected as MLA, she has to appeal to the high court to set aside the appeal madein the lower court. And till cleared, she cannot be chief minister," he hadsaid.
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Meanwhile, NDA convener Shri George Fernandes said in Patna that "if aperson convicted of corruption is invited to form government, I don't know whatwould become of Indian democracy."
Former Tamil Nadu chief minister and DMK president M.Karunanidhi said ifswearing-in of Jayalalitha as the chief minister of the state was right, RJDpresident Laloo Prasad Yadav should also be allowed to become the chief ministerof Bihar.
But congress hailed the action of Tamil Nadu governor saying it saw "noconstitutional hurdle" in Jayalalitha becoming the chief minister.
Laloo Wants "Exposed" NDA to quit
In Patna, Laloo Prasad adav said the governor's decision to administer oathof office and secrecy to jayalalitha was "a respect for people'sverdict". Yesterday, Laloo had demanded the resignation of Vajpayee's NDAgovernment, saying it had "lost" people's mandate.
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Stating that results for the assembly elections should be held as areferendum on the style of functioning of the Vajpayee government, Yadav hadtold reporters that when 13 crore voters decided to go for "secular"governments, the "exposed" NDA had no right to continue.
He congratulated AIADMK leader J Jayalalitha and CPI(M)leader BuddhadevBhattacharjee on their victory and also hailed the "secular force"coming to power in Kerala.
"NDA IS STABLE"
But putting up a brave front following the rout of two of its allies, the NDAbrushed aside suggestion that the outcome of the assembly polls would adverselyaffect the stability of the coalition at the centre.
"Had the result gone decisively in favour of the third-ront, it couldhave affected the NDA comprising partners which were earlier part of such afront," highly-placed NDA sources said.
Parties like telugu desam and dmk, which were part of the united front, couldhave thought of moving out of NDA if the third front had been strengthened, theysaid, adding that this had not happened, to the benefit of the existing set upat the centre.
The assembly election results showed that the polity continued to be bipolarwith Congress being the main adversary of ruling NDA and that the results were"on expected lines" since the NDA was not expected to perform well inthese states due to various factors, the sources said.
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On the result of Shahjehanpur lok sabha bye election in Uttar Pradesh, thesources said it would have been a matter of concern to BJP had the seat been wonby the congress which had held it. They felt a "weak" BJP candidatewas among the reasons for not not winning the seat.
A euphoric congress president Sonia Gandhi and other opposition parties saidthe outcome of the elections reflected on the performance of the Vajpayeegovernment, but the prime minister claimed the results were on expected lines.
By-Elections
Congrees and BJP lost their hold on Shahjehanpur and Tiruchirappalliparliamentary seats in Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu respectively while CPI wonby a comfortable margin in the third lok sabha bypoll in West Bengal's Midnaporeconstituency.
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Congress also surrendered the Banamalipur assembly seat in Tripura to CPI, aconstituent of state's ruling left front, while Samata Party managed to stem thetrend retaining Kshetrigao assembly consituency in Manipur, by-elections forwhich were held along with the three lok sabha seats on may 10.
