Saturday, October 8 2005 18:36 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Chandigarh: In the face of the stinging Supreme Court judgement on Bihar, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today (Oct 8, 2005) said that he did not disown his responsibility in regard to the dissolution of the State Assembly which he defended as the only 'practical course' open.

"I don't disown our responsibility and my responsibility as Prime Minister," he said in his first comment after the Supreme Court order at a press conference here along with Congress President Sonia Gandhi at the end of party Chief Ministers' conclave.

He was asked whether his Government was not morally responsible for the dissolution of the Assembly since the Court had described the dissolution as 'unconstitutional.'

Singh refused to spell out the future course of action in the wake of the apex Court order, saying he will have to wait for the detailed judgement.

Justifying the decision to dissolve the House, he said, "There were specific circumstances that were brought to our notice. It was our considered judgement then that taking into account the objective situation dissolution of the assembly was the only practical course open."

He said, "The Honourable court had by majority judgement held it (the decision) unconstitutional. I still don't know the reasons that led the honourable court to arrive at that decision. I have to wait for a detailed judgement."

Explaining the circumstances in which the decision to dissolve the assembly was taken by his Government, Singh said, "You know the history of the case. The Governor made a recommendation and the Union Cabinet acted on that. We all know what happened since then. The Supreme Court has declared the dissolution as unconstitutional but said the election process must go on."

To a question about his meeting with President A P J Abdul Kalam after the court order, Singh refused to give details of the discussions, saying it would be a bad precedent to disclose in public what transpired between the Prime Minister and the President."

Replying to a query on whether it was time to have a relook at the policy of appointing a politician as a Governor, the Prime Minister said there were various elements which go into the question of who should be the Governor or who should not be.

He, however, maintained that being a politician was not necessarily a bad qualification for becoming a Governor.

When a similar question was put to Gandhi, she insisted that she did not agree that politics was being done from Raj Bhawan.

The Government has earned the wrath of the opposition and even the Left allies have raised questions over the decision to dissolve the assembly.