Enough Grounds to Appeal Uttarakhand HC Ruling: Centre
NEW DELHI: Refusing to give in to the verdict of the Uttarakhand High Court, the BJP-led Central government will exploit the last legal remedy available before it by approaching the Supreme Court.
BJP sources agreed that it would be advantage Harish Rawat if he won the floor test on April 29, as the next elections are a few months away. Both parties now had an equal number of MLAs at 27 each after the disqualification of nine rebel Congress MLAs. There six other MLAs and one nominated.
If the Congress was ecstatic about the verdict with Rahul Gandhi saying it was the victory of democracy, the BJP top brass went into a huddle soon after the High Court verdict to strategise on the means to deal with the fresh “crisis”.
Senior ministers Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitley met at party chief Amit Shah’s house. Also present at the meeting were Attorney-General Mukul Rohatgi, Nripendra Mishra, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi during the meeting when it was decided that verdict would be challenged.
Source said that there were enough grounds to challenge the order which is being seen as a big blow to the Modi government.
They said the Centre would tell the Supreme Court that the failure of the Appropriation Bill to get the Assembly’s approval and the disqualification of nine rebel Congress MLAs “arbitrarily” were some of the grounds to impose President’s rule in the hill State.
The government is also expected to submit that Governor K K Paul’s four subsequent reports had given “enough” grounds for the proclamation of President’s rule. Officially the party fielded its general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya to defend the party and say that the Rawat government was still in minority.
“We are not surprised by the judgment. With the kind of observations being made for the three days by the court, such an order was expected. There is a question on our mind as Chief Minister Rawat, who was caught in a sting, has been given relief by the court. “The Harish Rawat government was in a minority yesterday, it is in a minority today and tomorrow. It will be proved on April 29,” BJP general Secretary Vijayvargiya said.
Vijayvargiva went a step ahead saying the Chief Justice abjudicating on the disqualification of nine rebel Congress MLA should be debated by legal experts as it was not justified.
Meanwhile, the Congress has submitted a notice in the Rajya Sabha, saying the BJP should be condemned for the state of affairs in Uttarakhand.