Race Course Road

India Today
October 19, 1998

RACE COURSE ROAD
Raisina Hill vs South Block

Vajpayee plans to deal with a proactive President

Prabhu Chawla

Even at THE best of times the relationship between Raisina Hill and South Block has gone through bouts of confrontation. Now at the worst of times for the ruling coalition the seeds for a serious confrontation between the President and the executive are being sown.

In the not so distant past, it was the will of the prime minister which prevailed over the lofty wishes of the President. And whatever the skirmishes, ultimately the Union Cabinet could carry on with the business of running the country without fearing any serious challenge from Rashtrapati Bhavan. But not any more.

With India's parliamentary democracy going through unprecedented convulsions, the equation between the prime minister and the President is also being redefined. Last week, soon after returning from his foreign visit, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee called on President K.R. Narayanan for the customary briefing and exchange of views. For once, the chemistry between the two was not exactly right.

While the prime minister, in his usual low tone, questioned the President's decision on the Union Cabinet's recommendation on Bihar, Narayanan was categorical about his views and constitutional rights. The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) feels that Rashtrapati Bhavan does not have an administrative mechanism to verify the claims of the Cabinet, but the President is said to be equally firm that he was right. While the President is within his rights to seek opinion on ticklish legal matters, what transpired between Vajpayee and Narayanan during their 45-minute meeting is a matter of speculation.

Now Vajpayee has initiated a serious debate within his Cabinet and among his colleagues and allies on the issue of evolving a strategy to deal with a President who they feel "plays to the gallery'' and is trying to carve out a parallel role for himself. The prime minister firmly believes that had the coalition partners displayed better unity, the President would have found it extremely difficult to challenge the Cabinet's decision.

If Raisina Hill has been able to erode the authority of the prime minister and the Cabinet, it is purely because of the parliamentary arithmetic. Narayanan has shown that from now on prime ministers will need more than just the rule book to throw at the President for extracting his approval on legislative matters. Gone are the days when a prime minister with the backing of his party and Parliament could bulldoze the President into signing just any piece of paper.

With successive prime ministers leading unstable coalition governments and a head of state donning the role of a "Working President", national politics is taking a curious turn. Narayanan's various moves during the past year indicate a definite shift in the position and posturing of the head of state. Instead of just being a facilitator for the Government, he has emerged as yet another effective check on the executive-something the Constitution has not explicitly provided. For Vajpayee and his successors, it will be a monumental challenge to push Narayanan back into the conventional constitutional aloofness.

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