00:00To our top story, we promised we'd get Harish Salve also on that big question.
00:04What should the Tamil Nadu governor be doing?
00:07Appreciate your joining us, Mr. Salve.
00:10What's your view?
00:10Do you believe that the Tamil Nadu governor should wait for letters of support
00:14before inviting Vijay to become chief minister or swear him in?
00:20Or should he go by the fact that he's the single largest party?
00:25Rajdeep, since you're an old friend, I can tease you.
00:30If you ask the wrong question, you get to the wrong answer.
00:35The question which I'm asking myself is that if the governor has asked for letters of support
00:44before giving him a break or giving him a chance to form the government,
00:49has he acted unconstitutionally?
00:51The answer is no.
00:52What the governor should do is in his wisdom.
00:57Should the governor have straightaway allowed him to form a government?
01:01Maybe, maybe not.
01:03Should the governor...
01:04What the governor can't do, I can tell you clearly.
01:09The governor has rightly not invited the AIDMK or the DMK to form the government.
01:14Rightly.
01:16The governor has not, hopefully, because I don't know what he has asked Mr. Vijay to do,
01:23the governor cannot conduct a floor test on the floor of the Raghavan.
01:28A floor test can only be on the floor of the assembly.
01:30Now, between these two, the governor has to satisfy himself that there is a reasonable prospect
01:35of the government which is being sworn in to enjoy the confidence of the House.
01:42How a governor satisfies himself, unless he is acting in an extraordinary fashion,
01:48has to be left to the governor.
01:50So, if the governor says, I would rather see...
01:53I would want to see something more than just bold assertions.
01:56I am not happy with the fact that your first supporter actually fought the election against you
02:02as an ally of another party.
02:04Maybe they can support you.
02:05I want something in writing.
02:07Some other groups are saying they will support you.
02:09Get something in writing.
02:10I don't know.
02:11I wish I was a flower on the wall.
02:13I wish you were a flower on the wall.
02:14Sir, but the reason I'm asking you, governors have taken different stands in different situations.
02:20In Karnataka, Mr. Yedirappa was allowed to form a government without having to show the numbers.
02:24There have been other cases where governors or presidents have asked for letters of support to Mr. Vajpayee.
02:30Are you saying there is no standard principle?
02:32Because now what you could do, you could keep it pending
02:35and tomorrow give enough time to the DMK and AIDMK to cobble together a government?
02:41If, see, this is where we, as a student of constitutional law,
02:45this is where we say your action, if it is bona fide, can be one of many choices.
02:53What Mr. Vajpayee was asked to do was a valid exercise of constitutional power.
02:58Bring me letters.
03:00Maybe in the circumstances, Yedirappa being invited to form the government was a valid exercise of power.
03:06Both are valid.
03:07But if you are deliberately delaying so that some other group can cobble together
03:17and defeat the single largest party, your action will be judged as being malafide.
03:25That is not in accordance with the constitution principle.
03:28Sir, you are making an important point.
03:30If the governor gives enough time to the DMK, AIDMK to cobble together a majority
03:35and prevents Vijay as the single largest party from showing those letters of support,
03:39you believe that is malafide.
03:41Am I correct?
03:42It could be argued strongly that the conduct is not consistent.
03:48See, what is the definition of malafide in the context of constitutional law?
03:53You're exercising a power not for the purpose for which it was given.
03:58So the purpose of this power of the governor is bona fide, satisfy yourself.
04:04Today we have one fact which is not deniable.
04:09In a remarkable show of political popularity, it's an amazing thing which happens.
04:16I love Indian democracy for this.
04:18The way the people have shown the mandate.
04:20Unfortunately, this debutant was not able to cross the middle, the midpoint.
04:27I wish he had.
04:28We wouldn't have had this conversation today.
04:30It would have been such a wonderful thing.
04:31No, sir, we are having this conversation with due regard
04:34because Lok Bhavans or Raj Bhavans are increasingly seen to be politically partisan.
04:38That's the problem.
04:40That there should be some kind of uniformity in the rules that they make.
04:45You can't have different rules for Karnataka and different rules for Tamil Nadu.
04:49See, there is something called constitutional discretion.
04:53I completely agree with you.
04:57Your point resonates.
04:58That the way governors have conducted themselves, I'm not talking of His Excellency, the governor of Tamil Nadu.
05:05The way the office of the governor has been.
05:07We've had expert constitutional committee reports which have examined the role of the governor in the states.
05:12We've had union government dismissing governments for purposes which the Supreme Court has found to be illegal.
05:20So, rather unconstitutional.
05:23So, we have had all our institutions being challenged.
05:28If you are having a debate, and it's a debate for another day, on various areas where the governors should
05:35improve
05:35and governors should bring greater rectitude in their conduct, I agree with you.
05:41But do we today say we will not trust the institution of governors, the constitution being what it is,
05:50an exercise of discretion, the moment the governor says something which may militate against what you or I think he
05:57should be doing?
05:58Okay.
05:59I get your point.
06:00You're saying there's substantial discretion that the governor has, but his action should not and not be seen to be
06:08malefide at any cost.
06:10I appreciate Harish Salve, you joining me on the show tonight.
06:15Thank you very much.
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