A fresh confrontation is brewing between the Governor of Arunachal Pradesh and Speaker of the State Assembly over the timing set for Chief Minister Nabam Tuki to prove the majority on the floor of Assembly. While Acting Governor Tathagata Roy on Friday refused Tuki’s plea to defer the floor test slated for Saturday, Assembly Speaker Nabam Rebia said it was not possible to hold the session at such a short notice.
In a bid to delay the floor test, the State Cabinet met under the leadership of the Chief Minister at the CM’s Conference Hall in Itanagar and decided to request the Governor to give at least 10 days for holding the floor test. The Cabinet requested the Governor to summon the House on July 25 or 26 for holding the floor test.
The Cabinet argued that many of the MlAs are out of station and will not be in a position to attend the session for holding the floor test in such a short period of time.
“Besides, Saturday is a holiday in Arunachal Pradesh and it will not be proper to summon the Assembly on a holiday as it will cause inconvenience to all concerned and the officers may not be able to process the matter in respect of summoning the Assembly as per legal provisions within such a short period,” said Government spokesperson Bamang Felix.
The Governor, however, asked the Chief Minister to prove his majority on the floor of the House on Saturday. The Governor also convened a high- level security review meeting at Raj Bhavan and asked the police and civil administration officials to take all precautionary measure to ensure that law and order prevails and no untoward incidents take place.
The effective strength of the 60-member House in Arunachal Pradesh is 58 at present including 30 Peoples Party of Arunachal Pradesh (PPA), including the Chief Minister, 15 Congress, 11 BJP and two Independents.
While Tuki had earlier said that he would be able to prove majority in the House, former Chief Minister Kalikho Pul is camping in Guwahati with 42 legislators (including 29 PPP, 11 BJP and two Independents).
Tuki, however, claims that all the 30 PPP legislators automatically becomes Congress MlAs since the Supreme Court verdict on Wednesday took the clock back to December 15, 2015, when they were affiliated to the Congress.
In February this year, leader of a dissident faction of the Congress Kalikho Pul unseated Tuki and formed the Government with support of 30 dissident Congress legislators (including him), 11 BJP legislators and two Independent legislators. The Chief Minister and other 29 dissident Congress leaders later joined the Peoples’ Party of Arunachal (PPA).