Congress to move HC against President's Rule in Uttarakhand

The Congress party moved the Uttarakhand High Court Monday after the state was placed under President's Rule Sunday. The President's Rule was imposed after President Pranab Mukherjee gave a nod to a proposal by the Union Cabinet, which said that the state government was "unconstitutional" as it had passed a "failed" Appropriation Bill.

The trouble in the hill state started after nine Congress MLAs rebelled and sided with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in demanding a division of votes for the Appropriation Bill in the state. The BJP then, saying Chief Minister Harish Rawat no longer had the majority, sought to form the government. Assembly Speaker Govind Singh Kunjwal disqualified the nine Congress MLAs for defecting and the size of the Assembly was reduced to 61 from 70. The Congress with its 27 lawmakers and six other MLAs, who are part of an alliance, were due to stake majority during the trust vote Monday. The BJP had 28 legislators, NDTV reported.

"Modi and Amit Shah wanted to topple my government at all costs. They wanted to remove Harish Rawat from the scene for which they went to the extent of murdering democracy. They even murdered the sentiments of the people of Uttarakhand," Uttarakhand Chief Minsiter Harish Rawat told ANI.

"We'll challenge President's rule in court and will tell that this is all mala fide. The Central government and BJP are hatching conspiracies to topple Congress governments in the states. It is their policy. Those who take oath by the Constitution and violated the same Constitution. Their policy is Congress free India, so they are working on that and toppling governments," Senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal told ANI. "First they did it in Arunachal Pradesh, then in Uttarakhand, and I have information that they would do it in Manipur next," he added.

"Even today we can prove full majority, this is what the BJP feared," Hemesh Kharkwal,Congress MLA, told ANI Monday.

The political instability in Uttarakhand came on the heels of the unrest in Arunachal Pradesh, where a similar situation led to the imposition of President's Rule.