BJP won’t dare touch other states: Congress

A confident Congress feels the BJP and the government managers would not dare to destablise the Himachal Pradesh and Manipur governments following the Uttarakhand high court’s verdict on President’s Rule.

While the government’s decision to impose the President’s Rule instead of allowing the floor test in the Uttarakhand Assembly embarrassed the President, the very strategy weakened the BJP at a time when the state is going to the polls within a year.

Though it is unclear who is playing the “game” in the ruling party which is damaging Prime Minister Narendra Modi as was seen in the Delhi and Bihar Assembly polls, the Uttarakhand developments have not only boosted the morale of the Congress ahead of the Parliament session beginning next week, but they could also make anti-BJP parties aggressive.

Government managers who are trying to isolate the Congress on the Ishrat Jahan case will have to keep the Opposition in good humour if the government is keen on passage of key bills in the Rajya Sabha where the BJP lacks majority.

Congress deputy leader in the Upper House Anand Sharma has given a notice to Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari seeking passage of a resolution condemning the Modi government for “destabilisation” of the Uttarakhand government and imposition of President’s Rule in the state.

The resolution seeks to “deplore” the “destabilisation” of the democratically-elected government in Uttarakhand and “disapprove” of the “unjustified” imposition of President’s Rule there under Article 356 of the Constitution.

The development came hours after the Uttarakhand high court ordered reinstatement of the Harish Rawat government, setting aside the Presidential proclamation imposing Central rule.

Meanwhile, buoyed by the high court verdict reviving its government in Uttarakhand, the Congress said “those eyeing Himachal Pradesh and Manipur with avaricious eyes must control their greed”.

The party also made light of the BJP’s claims that the Harish Rawat government remains in minority which will be proved on April 29 when it takes the floor test. “If that was the case, why did they not allow the floor test earlier planned on March 28 ” party spokesman Abhishek Singhvi asked at the AICC briefing.

Mr Singhvi, who represented the Congress in the Uttarakhand high court as senior advocate, asserted that “those eyeing Himachal Pradesh and Manipur with greedy eyes, avaricious eyes must learn to control their greed.”

“They must realise that power is available only through democracy and not through Article 356,” he said in a blistering attack on the Modi dispensation over its “misuse” of Article 356 in Uttarakhand.

He insisted that the action by the Modi government in Uttarakhand was unprecedented. “Never in the history of independent India has the Central government invoked President’s Rule to stay the order of the Speaker when the floor test was to be held within 10 days. Never before in the history of independent India that (Article) 356 has been invoked on a Saturday, just 48 hours before the inevitable effect of the disqualification process would have been felt on Monday morning,” he said.

He said it was a “blatant intervention through misuse of Article 356” when the governor had ordered a floor test and Speaker had started disqualification proceedings.

He brushed aside a question whether President Pranab Mukherjee should resign in the wake of the high court observation that the President could go horribly wrong.