Taking its battle in Uttarakhand to the President for the second time in a week, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday March 26,2016 demanded President's Rule in the state, saying Chief Minister Harish Rawat has no right to continue after a sting operation purportedly showed him bargaining with rebel party lawmakers to win their support ahead of floor test on March 28,2016
BJP's memorandum to the President was also critical of state Governor KK Paul, saying he "did not act on the request of the majority of the legislature to dismiss the state government and on the contrary granted 10 days time" to Harish Rawat to prove his majority.
"Such a long time has given an opportunity to the Chief Minister to indulge in illegal, unconstitutional practices including horse trading to convert a minority into majority," it said.
A delegation of party leaders met President Pranab Mukherjee and expressed apprehension that the Congress government may try to "abuse" the Speaker's office to disqualify rebel lawmakers to win the floor test.
Party General Secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya told reporters after meeting the President that there was no need for a show of strength in the Assembly following the sting and a constitutional crisis existed in the state.
"Even if the government wins the floor test by disqualifying a few MLAs, it will be murder of democracy. They may try to misuse the Speaker's office to turn a minority government into a majority government.
"We told the President that after the sting, the state government has no right to continue in power even for a minute. You should take necessary action and impose President's Rule," he said.
The BJP delegation included its vice presidents Vinay Sahasrabudhe and Shyam Jaju, who is also the state in-charge, and general secretary Anil Jain, national secretary Shrikant Sharma and MP Bhagat Singh Koshyari besides Vijarvargiya, who is handling the political crisis in the state.
"In a desperate attempt to cling to power undemocratically and unconstitutionally, Harish Rawat has started approaching the (rebel) legislators belonging to Congress as well as the BJP and the other parties, offering them crores of rupees to support him in the floor test," the party's letter to the President said
Note
The Harish Rawat led Congress Government in Uttarakhand will take a floor test in the House on Monday March 28,2016 as the state is facing a political crisis of sorts after 9 party lawmakers turned hostile and rebelled against the party
On March 20,2016, Uttarakhand Assembly Speaker Govind Singh Kunjwal issued show cause notices to the nine rebel MLAs and they could be disqualified under the anti-defection law, which was included in the constitution by Rajiv Gandhi government in 1985.
Things became murkier on Saturday March 26,2016 after the rebel MLAs released a sting video that purportedly showed Chief Minister Rawat indulging in horse-trading.
The rebel fraction includes prominent faces of the party such as former Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna and Harak Singh Rawat.
Vijay Bahuguna had to make way for Rawat after the party high command asked him to step down on account of corruption allegations.
The Uttarakhand assembly consists of 71 members out of which one is a nominated member.
The Congress government currently has 36 MLAs, including the nine rebel lawmakers.
The Congress party enjoys support from three independent members of the house. On the other hand, BJP is the second largest party in the House with a total of 28 seats.
If the speaker disqualifies the nine rebel MLAs on Sunday, the house strength will come down to 62 MLAs, excluding the nominated member.
The Congress will be left with 27 seats, one less than the BJP. However, one of the BJP lawmakers
Bhimlal Arya may abstain from the floor test as he has been working for the Congress party for some time.
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