The beleaguered Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat on Saturday got a breather with Governor Krishna Kant Paul asking him to prove majority on the floor of the State Assembly by March 28.
The Governor’s directive came even as the BJP, claiming a strength of 35 with the support of nine rebel Congress MlAs in the 70-member Assembly, stepped up efforts to form its Government, contending that the Rawat Government had been reduced to a minority. On his part, Rawat asserted that he was ready to prove his majority in the Assembly.
In a letter to the Chief Minister, the Governor asked him to prove his majority in the State Assembly by March 28, a top Raj Bhavan official said. It was dispatched to the CM shortly before his appointment with the Governor on Saturday evening.
Rawat, who has been under pressure from the BJP, now has time till March 28 to get back the dissident MlAs. With the Uttarkhand Government struggling for survival the Congress High Command has asked AICC spokesperson Rita Bahuguna Joshi to persuade her elder brother Vijay Bahuguna not to align with the Opposition BJP and return home with dignity.
Meanwhile, invoking the Anti-Defection Act, the ruling Congress is all set to appeal to the Governor to terminate the membership of the nine dissident Congress MlAs. The decision was taken after Rawat, Speaker Govind Singh Kunjwal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Indira Hridayesh deliberated over the issue on Saturday.
As per the law, membership of the rebels would be terminated unless things take the form of a split that involves one-third of the concerned party’s strength in the House as per the Anti-Defection Act. However, the legal experts are finding loopholes in the Government’s claim. They say the Government claiming to have passed the Budget by voice vote has made it difficult for it to take action against the rebel MlAs under the Anti-Defection Act.
“Whip was issued, but the voice vote passage of the Budget has made the application of the law difficult,” said one of the legal experts.
legal experts say that as the Opposition has demanded division of votes on the Budget it amounts to no-confidence motion.
The Opposition and the dissident MlAs claim that the Speaker had throttled their voice at the behest of the Chief Minister by denying them the opportunity to vote. This is why they have demanded the Governor to dismiss the Harish Rawat Government immediately. They claim that as the Harish Rawat Government has all but fallen because of it running short of majority, the nine dissident MlAs -- Vijay Bahuguna, Harak Singh Rawat, Shailendra Mohan Singhal, Umesh Sharma Kau, Subodh Uniyal, Prem Batra, Amrita Rawat, Shailarani Rawat and Kunwar Pranav Singh Champion -- are still members of the Vidhan Sabha. The Opposition said they would move no-confidence against the Speaker too when the Assembly meets again.
Notably, when Vijay Bahuguna formed the Uttarakhand Government on March 13, 2012 then Cabinet Minister Harish Rawat had managed to have his staunch supporter Govind Singh Kunjwal appointed as the Speaker. Now Kunjwal, who had embarrassed the Bahuguna Government by raising corruption charges from public forum had acted in such a manner that his status as someone apart from the Treasury Bench was blurred, said the Opposition and the Congress rebel members of the House. However, they are keeping in mind the fact that the Speaker’s vote in case the motion leads to a tie can prove crucial.
However, both sides are busy taking legal opinion before firming up their next strategies vis-à-vis the unfolding drama.
Nine dissident MlAs constituting one-fourth of the Congress strength in the Vidhan Sabha standing at 36, four more are required to help things take the shape of a split, a possibility that BJP says is bright, given the fact that four, including a Cabinet Minister, are in touch with them. If things fail to fructify as BJP expects the nine dissidents would lose membership under the Anti-Defection Act.
However, the Government is pulling out all stops to have the rebels disqualified before the Treasury Bench faces the Assembly.
Sources said that the Opposition would bring the no-confidence motion against the Speaker as the first thing after the House reopens.
Now, eyes are fixed on the Governor as the authority to appoint a protem Speaker in case the Speaker is removed rests with him.
Regarding numbers, BJP has paraded 35 MlAs, including 26 from BJP excluding MlA Ganesh Joshi, who is now under judicial custody and nine rebel Congress MlAs. The Congress led front at the present juncture enjoys the support of 33 MlAs, including six from Progressive Democratic Front (PDF), Congress’s ally. If Harish Rawat manages to have nine dissident MlAs disqualified things would be easy for the Congress. Moreover, if the one nominated MlA throws his weight behind Congress its strength would go up to 34 in the 62-member Vidhan Sabha.
While BJP claims the support of 35 MlAs including nine rebel Congress legislators, Rawat says he still enjoys a majority in the 70-member House as none of the so-called rebel MlAs has quit the party or the ClP. He also said that five of the rebels were in touch with him.
On a day of claims and counter-claims by BJP and the Congress, Assembly Speaker Govind Singh Kunjwal said the “Anti-Defection law is in place and whoever is found guilty of violating it will have to be acted against”.
“All Congress MlAs voted with the Government when the previous Bill was passed in the Assembly and nobody had challenged the Bill. Even the BJP accepts the voice vote,” he said.
Asked about BJP’s no-confidence notice against him, Kunjwal said, “We will see when it comes in the Assembly. Members of the legislative Assembly will discuss and decide if the no-confidence notice is valid or not”.
Hitting back at the BJP, Congress accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah of seeking to destabilise non-BJP Governments through lure of money and political power.
“The duo of Modi and Shah are infamous for forcible eviction of elected Governments in this country. Elected Government are being destabilised by a sinister conspiracy. After Arunachal Pradesh, it is Uttarakhand,” Congress chief spokesman Randeep Surjewala told reporters in New Delhi.
In Dehradun, BJP intensified efforts to dislodge the Rawat Government, claiming it has majority in Uttarakhand Assembly and should be invited to form the Government as the incumbent Congress dispensation has been reduced to a minority.
“The Harish Rawat Government has lost majority. Today BJP has the numbers with the support of rebel Congress MlAs to form a new Government in Uttarakhand,” Shyam Jaju, the State in-charge of BJP said.
Jaju said the party is willing to present the MlAs whose support it enjoys before President Pranab Mukherjee and insisted that Rawat should immediately resign given the loss of majority.
Nine rebel Congress MlAs have reached Delhi and are in touch with BJP leaders, he said.
Accusing BJP of distorting facts, Rawat said, “Those who are saying they have support of 35 MlAs are misrepresenting facts. I am confident that I still have a majority in the Assembly and can prove it on the floor of the House,” he told reporters after emerging from a meeting with the Assembly Speaker.
The rebel MlAs included, Congress has a strength of 36 MlAs in the 70-member Assembly. The ruling party also has the support of six members of the Progressive Democratic Front. The BJP has 28 MlAs.
A three-member BJP delegation of former Chief Minister and MP Bhagat Singh Koshiyari, Jaju and general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya met the Governor last night after the simmering discontent within a section of Congress legislature came to the fore.
Amidst chaos in the Assembly, nine Congress rebels had joined BJP in demanding a division of votes on the State’s annual Budget, which could have led to the Government’s fall.
Rebel Congress MlAs seen raising anti-Government slogans along with BJP were mostly those owing allegiance to former Chief Minister and MlA Vijay Bahuguna. The other eight were Harak Singh Rawat, Amrita Rawat, Kunwar Pranav Singh Champion, Shaila Rani Rawat, Pradip Batra, Subodh Uniyal, a confirmed Bahuguna loyalist, Shailendra Mohan Singhal and Umesh Sharma.
Surjewala said BJP was resorting to such actions in the backdrop of poll debacle in Delhi followed by in Bihar which has “convinced” the ruling party at the Centre that it would not come to power in any State through popular vote.
“Is this the Modi culture of politics of transparency and accountability to lure away legislators...Bypassing all constitutional normsIJ” he said.
Admitting that Congress MlAs had flouted the party whip by sitting on a dharna along with Opposition members, Rawat said they were liable to be acted against in accordance with the Constitutional provisions.
The Chief Minister said he was hurt by the behaviour of rebel party MlAs including Harak Singh Rawat and Vijay Bahuguna.
“As far as Harak Singh is concerned, the less said the better. He is such a star of Uttarakhand’s political firmament. If one or two more such wrestlers are born in the State, Uttarakhand of our dreams will never become a reality,” he said.
Rawat said he was shocked by Bahuguna’s conduct in the House on Friday as he came from a family which always fought against communal forces.
“Coming as it did from the son of Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna who always fought for secular values and stood against communal forces, Bahugunaji’s behaviour was no less shocking,” the Chief Minister said.
Senior BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya, on his way back from Raj Bhawan, said if the Governor does not immediately dismiss Harish Rawat’s minority Government, they would knock at the doors of the President.
Earlier, packed in a luxury bus, BJP and rebel Congress MlAs numbering 35, went to Raj Bhawan to seek dismissal of Harish Rawat Government.
The Governor assured the MlAs to look into the constituitional provisions and act accordingly, a Raj Bhawan spokesperson said.
leader of Opposition Ajay Bhatt, who was in the bus, said 35 MlAs including 26 of BJP and 9 from Congress voted against the Budget whereas only 32 from the ruling party voted in its favour causing the related Money Bill to fall in House.
All 26 BJP MlAs, barring Mussoorie MlA Ganesh Joshi, who has been arrested in Shaktiman case, and sulking legislator Bhim lal Arya, were present in the House on Saturday.
Congress MlA Sarbat Karim Ansari also could not attend the House, which had an effective strength of 67 MlAs.