Laloo Yadav, in Delhi to meet the President tomorrow morning, warned of ``possible militant agitation'' in Bihar. In Patna, the RJD has called a bandh tomorrow in protest against the Centre's recommendation and Chief Minister Rabri Devi has threatened to go on a fast unto death in front of Raj Bhavan if her Government was dismissed.

Laloo is carrying with him a two-page letter from Rabri Devi which lists crime statistics to highlight lawlessness in other parts of the country. He and Mulayam Yadav are supposed to meet President K R Narayanan.

``If the crime rate is the yardstick for recommending imposition of President's Rule in Bihar, then Delhi Lieutenant Governor should ask the Centre to dismiss the Sahib Singh Verma Government and the Kalyan Singh Government in UP,'' he declared,waving Rabri Devi's letter with its 20 annexures.

Refuting the charge that he was de facto Chief Minister of Bihar, Laloo said as president of the ruling party, he was ``duty bound'' to guide the Chief Minister. ``She is responsible for the implementation of the party guidelines in the state,'' he said.

In Bihar, the mood was that of anger. Holding fort in Patna in the absence of Laloo, RJD's principal secretary Ram Kirpal Yadav made it clear that his party would not take ``this humiliation lying down''. Spewing venom at the BJP's leadership, including the PM, he called upon the RJD rank and file to ensure that the Bihar bandh was a success.

The decision to call a bandh was taken at an emergency Cabinet meeting of the Bihar Government, and was announced by RJD ministers Jaiprakash Narayan Yadav and Vijay Krishna. ``It is a murder of democracy and politically motivated move when the Rabri Devi Government has already won the confidence vote with a thumping majority,'' they said.

Rabri Devisaid:``Yesterday, I secured the secured the confidence of the House. What has warranted dismissal of my government today?''

In New Delhi, a high-level Congress delegation called on the President this evening to register the party's protest against the Centre's decision. The team comprising Sharad Pawar, Pranab Mukherjee, Manmohan Singh, Shiv Shankar and Madhavrao Scindia, requested him to seek a second opinion from the BJP-led Government on the Cabinet's recommendation to dismiss the Rabri Devi Government.

Pawar told reporters that the Congress expected the President to do what he did when the United Front government recommended President's Rule in UP. ``The Cabinet's decision is undemocratic and is sheer misuse of Article 356. The BJP and its allies have always opposed imposition of President's Rule in the past but have now resorted to it to save their own government,'' party spokesperson Girija Vyas said.

The party's second point is that a government cannot be sacked within a day of proving itsmajority on the floor of the House. ``The BJP has always been a party of double standards. In UP they protested and held a dharna outside Rashtrapati Bhavan when the Kalyan Singh government was sacked. We hope the President will take the right step and save democracy,'' Vyas added.

Former prime minister V P Singh opposed the move for dismissal of the duly elected RJD Government. He said every single instance of the use of Article 356 had always been against state governments ruled by political opponents. President K R Narayanan should give thought to past precedents, he said.