Saturday, September 3 2005 12:42 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Patna: Charging Bihar Governor Buta Singh with having spied on the Non Democratic Alliance (NDA) before recommending dissolution of the State Assembly, senior Janata Dal-United (JD-U) leader Nitish Kumar today (Sept 3, 2005) demanded his immediate sacking.

Quoting Buta Singh's April 27 letter to the President in which he said, "contacts in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and JD (U) have informed that 16-17 MLAs of the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) have been won over and attempts are being made to win over others", the NDA's Chief Ministerial candidate for Bihar accused the Governor of 'spying on opposition MLAs' and sought his 'immediate' ouster.

"Now the cat is out of the bag. Buta Singh himself has admitted to having contacts in BJP and JD (U) who passed on information to him. He should be immediately sacked for his immoral conduct", Kumar told reporters while reacting to the letter written by Buta Singh to the President, which was submitted to the Supreme Court yesterday (Sept 2, 2005).

Kumar demanded that the Centre explain whether it was proper for people occupying constitutional posts to indulge in spying.

"The Congress party pulled down the Chandra Shekhar government in 1991 after a constable of Haryana police was allegedly caught spying outside the residence of Rajiv Gandhi. Now that it is leading the government at the Centre, it should explain whether such conduct is appropriate. If not, it should immediately sack the Governor", he said.