Congress chief whip Indira Hridayesh’s counsel submitted before the bench of Justice U.C.
Congress chief whip Indira Hridayesh’s counsel submitted before the bench of Justice U.C. Dhyani of Uttarakhand high court that the nine Congress rebels were “paraded” before the governor to show the “new majority”. The judge was hearing a petition by the nine Congress MLAs who were disqualified by Speaker Govind Singh Kunjwal under the anti-defection law.
In the Rajya Sabha, soon after the nominated members took the oath, Congress members trooped into the Well of the House and shouted slogans, after the government rejected their demand for a discussion on a motion on the dismissal. Leader of the House and finance minister Arun Jaitley said no discussion other than on the proclamation of President’s Rule in Uttarakhand can take place. He also justified the imposition of Central rule in the state, saying the “real breakdown of the constitutional machinery” had happened in Uttarakhand when the presiding officer (Speaker) “ignored” the vote of 35 out of 67 members against the Appropriations Bill to declare it passed.
Congress leaders Anand Sharma, Pramod Tiwari and SP’s Naresh Agrawal had given notices under Rule 267 seeking the suspension of business to take up discussion on the use of Article 356 in Uttarakhand. The demand was supported by BSP leader Mayawati.
The Congress members also demanded an apology from Mr Jaitley when, while referring to developments in the Uttarakhand Assembly, contended it had never happened in the history of Independent India that a presiding officer of a state Assembly has converted a majority into minority and vice versa. The Congress also demanded expunction of Mr Jaitley’s remarks against the Uttarakhand Speaker while justifying the imposition of Central rule in the state. Leader of the Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad said “a bad practice” was being set by questioning the ruling of the Speaker and imposing President’s Rule. He also said the Congress had always listened to Mr Jaitley’s contention regarding the decisions of Speaker being supreme even when they had raised questions about the LS Speaker’s decision to bring in a bill through the Money Bill route. “He (Jaitley) has always said the Speaker’s decision is final and cannot be challenged. But then he questions the decision of the Speaker of (Uttarakhand) Assembly. We cannot accept two understandings,” he said.
