The political situation in Uttarakhand remained in flux with the Uttarakhand high court reserving its judgment on the fate of nine rebel Congress MLAs for May 9, a day ahead of the floor test in the s
The political situation in Uttarakhand remained in flux with the Uttarakhand high court reserving its judgment on the fate of nine rebel Congress MLAs for May 9, a day ahead of the floor test in the state Assembly. Both the Congress and BJP are set to issue whips to their legislators.
“The hearing has been concluded. I will pronounce the judgement at 10.15 am on May 9,” Justice U.C. Dhyani said in brief remarks to counsel at the conclusion of nearly three hours of arguments from both sides. While ordering the floor test, the Supreme Court had said that the disqualified MLAs cannot participate in the voting.
With rumours of possible poaching flying thick and fast, both the Congress and BJP have mounted efforts to keep their flock together. The architect of BJP’s Uttarakhand strategy, party general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya, has been holding regular parleys with state party leaders to discuss strategy for the floor test. Deposed Congress chief minister Harish Rawat had alleged that the BJP leaders were making frequent trips to Dehradun to “purchase” MLAs. The BJP also accused the Congress of indulging in horse-trading.
At this juncture, with the nine rebel MLAs out of the voting process, the six Progressive Democratic Front (PDF) MLAs hold they key. Earlier, PDF leader Mantri Prasad Naithani had said on record that the front would vote for Mr Rawat.
While the Congress has 27 MLAs, the BJP has 28 in its kitty. After the disqualification of the nine MLAs, the effective strength of the House is 62, out which 61 MLAs will participate, barring the Speaker. Nominated Anglo-Indian member R.V. Gardner will also participate in the voting. The figure to prove a majority in the House now stands at 31. While Uttarakhand gears up for the crucial battle, scepticism plagues the saffron camp. After the Delhi and Bihar electoral debacles a desperate BJP is now going all out to salvage the Uttarakhand “mess”, a senior party functionary said. After the Centre’s move to impose President’s Rule in Uttarakhand it has now become a “prestige issue” for both the party and the Modi government, he said.
After the Supreme Court verdict on Friday, the BJP is now struggling to get the numbers, sources said. It was revealed that some top leaders of the party were holding parleys with “like-minded individuals”. The BJP is also keeping its fingers crossed for the May 9 verdict to be pronounced by the high court on the nine rebel MLAs.
The Uttarakhand high court on Saturday said that “our observation in praesenti will not cause any kind of prejudice to the merits of the case of disqualified members of the Legislative Assembly, which is sub judice before the high court”.
