The termination of the nine renegade Congress MlAs under the anti-defection law has been delayed for a few hours as the Speaker accepted their demand for relevant documents and video recordings of March 18’s Assembly proceedings. The Speaker said he would provide them with the documents and recordings by 9 am on Sunday, an assurance that keeps things hang fire till the deadline the Speaker set. The House would meet on March 28 to enable the embattled Harish Rawat Government to face the floor test as per the dictum issued by the Governor KK Paul.
Acting on the show-cause notices issued by the Speaker of Uttarakhand Assembly to nine Congress MlAs in the wake of their breaking rank with the Congress and aligning with the BJP, one of the rebel MlAs Subodh Uniyal along with some lawyers called on the Speaker at the latter’s office to present their view of the matter on Saturday. However, things remained incomplete due to unavailability of certain documents and recordings, sought by the dissident MlAs to reply point by point to the charges leveled against them by the State Congress legislature party’s chief whip Indira Hridayesh. The Speaker assured that he would try his best to provide all possible documents and video recordings by 9 am on Sunday.
Talking to The Pioneer after the meeting was over, MlA Uniyal said they had sought certified information on about nine points from the Speaker. “The Speaker assured to provide us with them by 9 am on Sunday. Thereafter, our lawyers will take up the matter,” he said.
He, however, took a dig at the Speaker, saying that he had not given them time to hear their stance in writing as he ought to have done as per the Vidhan Sabha proceedings rule-7. “The Speaker is bound to hear the points of view of those against whom the Speaker is contemplating action,” he said.
However, significantly, Uniyal said that they had written to the Speaker, reaffirming that they were still members of the Congress, a stance they are seemingly clutching at to save their membership from the application of the anti-defection law.
Clearing his stand on anti -defection law, Uniyal said that meeting with the Governor could not have constituted an offence under the law. “We can cite a number of Supreme Court rulings to buttress our point,” he said.
Refuting the charge that they had aligned with the BJP, he said that he had flown to Delhi on Spicejet’s commercial flight. “Did the ticket say that I would travel along with the BJP MlAsIJ” he asked.
Invoking the dignity the chair of the Speaker embodies, Uniyal said that they hoped that the Speaker would adequately rise to the occasion and do honour to the chair he is holding. “When the State government is hell-bent on liquidating Parliamentary democracy it is our duty to raise our voice together, irrespective of political affiliations,” he said.
Emphathising with another rebel MlA and former minister Harak Singh Rawat who had said that they were feeling insecure under the present dispensation, Uniyal said that the vindictive mindset of the government is evident from many instances.
“A fake I-T team raided the house of Raipur MlA Umesh Sharma Kau, a dissident MlA. The State Government has been desperately trying to frame Harak Singh Rawat in a concocted land fraud case. They have threatened MlA Kunwar Pranav Singh champion to have old cases reopened. This is politics of wreaking vengeance, something that hardly stands in sync with the democratic style of functioning,” Uniyal said.