In a far-reaching verdict, the Supreme Court has indicted Bihar Governor Buta Singh for his "undue haste" to recommend the "drastic and extreme" dissolution of the Bihar assembly. It also chided the Federal Government for accepting the recommendation without verification. The SC observed that Singh'a report contained "fanciful assumptions" which could be destructive of the democracy. The SC also said that it couldn't be a spectator to the "subversion of the Constitution." After elections in Bihar last year, a hung Assembly let to the ouster of Lalu Prasad Yadav's Rashtriya Janata Dal, after three terms in power, as a clear winner. Singh, a veteran Congressman, did not give the party that won the largest number of seats, the Janatha Dal (U), the chance to form the Government as required by the Constitution. In his report, Singh said that he suspected that assembly members might be bribed to support a new Government. The SC said that this suspicion is based on prejudice and that the Federal Government should have not accepted this report without due diligence. Although the court had ruled the unconstitutional nature of the dissolution, it could not stop the reelections in Bihar as the process for this exercise was well underway. The SC called the implementation of the Sarkaria Commission on federalism and for a policy that would ensure that non-politicians and eminent people would be posted to gubernatorial positions and not ex-party men. Federal Cabinet members were non-committal on the verdict even as the communists, allies of the Government, wanted Singh to be dismissed. The opposition party wanted Manmohan Singh to be sacked for misleading the President and United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Chairperson Sonia Gandhi to be held "accountable" for the coalition decision. Confident of his position, Singh struck a defiant note saying that he will "take the salute (the Republic Day salute on Jan 26) in Patna."