NEW DELHI: The political situation in Uttarakhand is a "textbook example of breakdown of governance," Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said today, emphasising that the Constitution provided for "many options" to the Centre.
Amid speculation that the Centre may impose the President's Rule, Jaitley listed the grounds which amounted to a constitutional breakdown in the Congress-ruled state. He said that the Appropriation Bill was declared passed by the Speaker in the Assembly on March 18 when 35 MLAs out of 67 had written to him in advance that they would be voting against it.
On the floor of the House these MLAs insisted on a division but the Speaker declared it passed by a voice vote when actually only 32 of the 67 present members supported it. In a House of 71, three were absent.
"In 68 years of Indian democracy, such an incident has not happened. I don't think there has been a greater subversion of parliamentary system in India than this," he told PTI, putting the blame squarely on the Congress for the present crisis.