Bhandari is learnt to have conveyed this to Union Home Minister L K Advani when he called upon the latter this evening. This was the Governor's first meeting with the Home Minister since the recent Assembly polls in three states.

Bhandari, who has been repeatedly asking the Centre for imposition of President's Rule in the state ever since he was appointed Governor, is said to have told Advani that this was the only way to save Bihar from a complete law and order breakdown and a collapse of the economy.

The Governor apprised the Home Minister of the latest situation in the state and gave him a detailed account of the existing law and order situation. He also drew Advani's attention to the paralysis of the general administration and pathetic financial condition of the state.

He is said to have taken the viewthat since the Centre was yet to take a political decision on the dismissal of the RJD Government in Bihar, it should, under Article 355 of the Constitution, send directives to the state government to take concrete steps to normalise the law and order situation.

He felt that due to the prevailing chaos and lawlessness in the state, the bureaucracy had become increasingly overpowering and unresponsive and there was no dynamic leadership at present to retrieve the situation.

Referring to the financial situation, he said, the state's economy was in shambles and the condition was so bad that government employees were not being given their salaries regularly.

Unemployment, too, had become a serious problem in the absence of new job avenues, he said, adding that the development process in the state had been reversed under the present government.

The Governor, who has earlier already recommended imposition of President's Rule in Bihar, said it was for the Centre to find a way out as the RJD government was ina majority.

Bhandari has been sending periodical reports to the Centre on the law and order situation and general conditions in the state and has been categorical that nothing short of President's Rule will save Bihar.