Dehradun: Congress leader and Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat today met the Speaker and recommended the disqualification of the nine rebel Congress legislators. The alleged defection of the MLAs has put the government in the state in minority.
Rawat needs to prove his government's majority on the floor of the house on Monday.
The move comes on a day when rebel Congress MLAs in Uttarakhand released a sting video of CM Rawat that allegedly shows him indulging in horse-trading to save his government.
In the video, Rawat can be heard saying he will give Rs 5 crore and asking a mediator to give another Rs 10 crore to buy MLAs. The content of the video is not verified.
Releasing the sting, rebel Congress MLA Harak Singh Rawat claimed that the Chief Minister is trying to bribe the nine rebel Congress MLAs and few other BJP MLAs to vote in his favour on the floor of the House on March 28.
Former CM of the state Vijay Bahuguna, who also defected to the opposition’s side, today blamed the Governor of misusing his constitutional position and demanded his removal.
“Governor gave 10 days time to a minority government to come into majority. Governor has misused his constitutional position, we'll demand that Governor be removed,” he said.
Bahuguna said that he was aware that their disqualification will be recommended and said it was a fit case for President’s rule in the state. “We know that we'll lose our membership, we want fresh elections, a fresh system to come up. It's a fit case for imposing 356,” he said.
Nine Congress MLAs in Uttarakhand have rebelled and aligned with the BJP, threatening the Rawat government in the state. State Assembly Speaker Govind Singh Kunjwal has already issued notices to the 9 rebel Congress MLAs asking them why they should not be disqualified from the membership of the House for violating the party whip.
The opposition BJP in the state has moved a notice of no-confidence motion, prompting Governor Krishna Kant Paul asking asked CM Rawat to prove his majority on the floor of the House on March 28.
The BJP, which has 26 MLAs, claimed that it has the support of 9 rebel Congress MLAs and 5 others are also ready to switch over.
