Bhandari met Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and is expected to meet Home Minister L K Advani tomorrow evening. September 22 seems the most likely date for dismissal (since it is the only day this month that both the President and PM will be in the Capital; Vajpayee leaves for the US the next day). But Bhandari indicated that it could take place even in the absence of the PM.

``I fear that the longer the Centre delays taking action, the situation will worsen. We cannot allow things to continue like this,'' Bhandari told journalists after meeting Vajpayee. The State Government had failed to discharge its constitutional responsibility and the administration was ``practicallydefunct'', he alleged. Bhandari will be camping here until Wednesday morning.

Confident that dismissal of the Bihar government would not be struck down by the courts even though the government has not lost its majority, Bhandari said, ``Bihar is a fit case for the judiciary to consider that Article 356 has been used properly.'' The government is also believed to have sought to know the President's mind on the dismissal issue since it wants to avoid embarrassment if he sends back the Cabinet's recommendation.

Bhandari said he was in favour of Governor's Rule followed by fresh elections rather than keeping the Assembly in suspended animation.Though Rabri Devi moved a motion to prove her majority in the House today, Bhandari said that this would not come in the way of dismissal. ``The chief minister may win democratically but there are other lacunae in governance and administration so steps can be taken,'' he said.

Bhandari gave three broad reasons for the need to impose President's Rule: thedeteriorating law and order situation, financial crisis in the state and inadequate flood relief measures.

On the Vananchal issue, the Governor said: ``The Centre can go ahead even if the Assembly rejects the resolution for the formation of a new state. Only Parliament has a say now, nobody else,'' he said. Asked if the same applied to Uttar Pradesh and Delhi, he replied that every case had its own background and no two cases are the same.

He ridiculed Laloo Prasad for his doublespeak on Vananchal: ``Laloo Prasad has said that Bihar will be divided only over his dead body. But he has said that if Vananchal is carved out of four states then it is all right.'' Pointing out that so far no one has claimed that the RJD Government has been reduced to a minority, Bhandari said: ``I don't think there's any constitutional breakdown in the State over the issue.''

Meanwhile, in a major development within the Samata Party over the Vananchal issue, senior party MP Prabhunath Singh today threatened to resign his LokSabha seat if the BJP-led government insisted on dividing Bihar without announcing a special package for development of the State.Is mein sarkar ki niyat mein khot hai (in this matter, the intention of the Centre is doubtful),'' he told a private TV channel.

``I am not after posts. Those who are with the people do not care for posts. If required, I may even resign,'' Singh said.