Giving his first reaction after the attorney general Mukul Rohatagi stated in the Supreme Court that the Union Government was withdrawing the President’s Rule, State BJP president Ajay Bhatt on Wednesday demanded ouster of the Speaker Govind Singh Kunjwal. He said the Speaker has forfeited his moral right to preside over the Assembly in view of his pronouncing the appropriation Bill as ‘passed’ by voice vote on March 18 despite knowing that the Harish Rawat government had been reduced to the minority.
He said he would appeal to the President and the Chief Justice of India to review the provision of our constitution that lends the Speaker with immense power. “This is fraught with danger as the Speaker can run the Assembly like a dictator, throwing all conventions to the winds, if he so likes to please the party he belongs to. Things must be looked into deeply and correctives must be incorporated accordingly to rein in such Speakers from acting like tyrants,” the BJP leader said.
Defending the Union government, Bhatt said that by deciding to withdraw the President’s Rule, the Centre has shown respect to the democracy and the Constitution. He reiterated that despite the Congress winning the floor test on May 10, it is still in the minority technically. “It was in minority on March 18 when nine Congress MlAs walked out from the treasury bench while the Opposition was demanding division of votes on the appropriation bill. The same equations prevail now if we think the nine MlAs have not yet been disqualified. The case has been pending in the Supreme Court. Had the Speaker not acted in the partisan manner he had acted, there was no chance for the Harish Rawat Government to face and win the floor test,” the State BJP chief said.