Immediately after a two-hour meeting of the cabinet, which considered governor Sundar Singh Bhandari's report on the situation in the state, prime minister AB Vajpayeee, along with the home minister LK Advani and defence minister George Fernandes went to the Rashtrapati Bhawan and conveyed the cabinet decision to President KR Narayanan.

The president is reported to have told them that he would take appropriate action after consulting legal and constitutional experts.

The cabinet during its meeting also sought attorney-general Soli Sorabjee's advice. The governor has recommended the dismissal of the Rashtriya Janata Dal government on account of constitutional breakdown, financial mismanagement and failure of law and order.

He has also recommended the dissolution of the stateassembly, but Advani told newspersons at Rashtrapati Bhavan that taking cognisance of the Supreme Court ruling in SR Bommai case, the assembly has been kept in suspended animation.

The governor had earlier met the prime minister and the home minister to apprise them of the situation in the state and later submitted a detailed report to the president.

As expected, the cabinet decision evoked strong reaction from the Rashtriya Janata Dal, Samajwadi Party, the Left and the Congress. Rashtriya Janata Dal Chief Laloo Prasad Yadav and Samajwadi Party President Mulayam Singh Yadav, both allies in the Rashtriya Loktantrik Morcha, cricitised the move as "highly undemocratic and dictatorial".

Laloo said the state would observe a bandh on Wednesday to protest against the "unconstitutional" recommendation as the state government had demonstrated its majority on the floor of the house only on Monday. He also said that though the assembly had a tenure of 18 months more yet his party was not afraid of snappolls.

Laloo accused the governor of partisanship and urged the president to refer the Bihar matter to the Supreme Court to find out the political motives of the governor.

Denouncing the decision, Mulayam Singh Yadav said the law-and-order situation was far more worse in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra where the Bhartiya Janata Party was ruling.

Congress spokesperson Girija Vyas described the decision as "undemocratic and blatant misuse of Article 356".

The CPM and CPI also critisised the recommendation to impose president's rule in Bihar and described it as a "politically motivated" and "undemocratic" move.