As a sting operation conducted by his own erstwhile Congress colleagues singed Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat ahead of the crucial floor test on March 28, Prime Minister Narendra Modi late on Saturday night held an emergency meeting of his Cabinet to discuss the political crisis in the State and explore all options including imposition of President’s Rule. The Cabinet, however, decided to meet once again on Sunday to take a final call.
In the meantime, Uttarakhand Assembly Speaker went ahead and disqualified the nine Congress rebel MlAs, thus terminating their membership of the House. The BJP had apprehended that the Speaker would do so to bring down the numerical strength of the House which would help Rawat survive. The BJP also feels Governor KK Paul granted too long a time of ten days to Rawat to prove his majority.
The Home Ministry had earlier in the day sought a final report from the Governor on the Uttarakhand situation. The Cabinet, which met soon after Modi returned from his poll campaign in Assam, discussed the report as well as all other developments in the State.
Even while the Cabinet was meeting, the Congress conducted a Press conference to express its apprehension about the imposition of President’s Rule in Uttarakhand and said the Modi Government’s conspiracy against federalism started in Arunachal Pradesh.
Former Union Minister and Congress’ in-charge of Uttarakhand Ambika Soni said the sting video was fake and the Modi Government did not bother to ascertain its veracity before heading for the Cabinet meeting with Uttarakhand being the sole agenda.
“They cannot bring down the Harish Rawat Government. The Speaker and the Governor did not come under their pressure, so they are resorting to the last measure of President’s Rule,” she said.
Ahead of the Cabinet meeting, a BJP delegation met President Pranab Mukherjee and demanded President’s Rule in the State.
Earlier, the sting released by rebel Congress MlAs showed CM Harish Rawat allegedly offering money to legislators to vote for his Government in the vote of confidence mandated by Governor KK Paul, before March 28.
Releasing the video, rebel Congress MlA Harak Singh Rawat said that the CM was trying to bribe the nine rebel Congress MlAs and a few BJP MlAs. He also alleged that the rebel MlAs have been receiving life threats.
Speaker Govind Singh Kunjwal had served notice to nine rebel Congress legislators, seeking their responses by March 26 (Saturday) on why they should not be disqualified from membership of the House under the anti-defection law for violating the party discipline and aligning with the Opposition BJP.
“There is an attempt by the CM to bribe the nine rebel MlAs and few other BJP MlAs. The Uttarakhand Government is indulging in horse-trading of the MlAs,” said Harak Singh Rawat.
He also said that the sting video clearly showed that the CM was talking of offering Rs 5 crore to each legislator to return to the party and was also heard saying “chalo maamla saste mein nipat gaya” (The issue has been settled at a cheap price).
“We have expressed concern over our security to the Government of India as we are getting threats. We’ve asked them to make arrangements for us. We have also requested the Governor to immediately dismiss such a corrupt Government of the mafias,” he added.
Rawat further said, “We have also written a letter to President Pranab Mukherjee to take objection to the whole situation. There is a constitutional crisis in the State.”
Soon after the sting was released, CM Harish Rawat held a Press conference and accused the journalist, who conducted the sting, of conniving with Opposition parties to “destabilize” his Government and “bring a bad name to the State.” The BJP and the people behind the sting operation, he charged, were “immoral and greedy”.
Following the release of the sting operation video during the day, a BJP delegation on Saturday met President Pranab Mukherjee in the evening and demanded imposition of President’s Rule in Uttarakhand.
The BJP team, led by party general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya, met the President at Rashtrapati Bhavan seeking his “intervention” saying the Harish Rawat Government “is in a minority and does not have a right to stay in power even for a minute”. Vijayvargiya said after meeting Mukherjee that even if MlAs were disqualified ahead of the trust vote on Monday there would be no justification for the existence of the Congress Government which was using “corrupt practices” to stick to power.
Asked about the President’s response, the BJP leader quoted the President as having said, “necessary action will be taken”. Vijayvargiya was accompanied by former Uttarakhand Chief Minister Bhagat Singh Koshiyari, State-in-charge Shyam Jaju, general secretary Anil Jain and secretary Sriant Sharma.
Earlier, Vijayvargiya alleged that the Chief Minister was indulging in horse-trading and demanded his resignation. “We had told the Governor that the State Government will indulge in horse-trading. We could not understand as to why he gave so many days to it to prove its majority in the Assembly. Our fears have come true. It has been clearly exposed today that Harish Rawat is busy buying over his own MlAs,” said Vijayvargiya.
The Congress countered by saying that it would “not be cowed down by such tactics, conspiracies and threats”. In a statement, AICC’s chief spokesman Randeep Surjewala said, “Even today the Uttarakhand Government enjoys majority. We will abide by constitutional directions and will prove our majority on the floor of the House.”
At the AICC briefing, Uttarakhand Congress president Kishore Upadhyay launched a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president, accusing them of hatching a conspiracy to destabilise
the Uttarakhand Government which, he claimed, “enjoys majority”.
“It is all the job of the externed Amit Shah and his dirty tricks department,” he said, alleging that after destabilising Arunachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand has come on the radar of the ruling party at the Centre. Upadhyay claimed he was in touch with six of the nine rebel MlAs but refused to divulge the names.
He claimed that the Congress rebels and BJP were behind the “conspiracy of the fake CD” after they failed to get any relief from either the court or the Governor ahead of the crucial trust vote on Monday.