Uttarakhand crisis: 35 BJP, rebel Congress MLAs to meet President today
New Delhi: Taking the Uttarakhand power tussle to the President's doorstep, 35 Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders from the state along with the nine rebel Congress leaders will meet Pranab Mukherjee in Delhi on Monday, asking him to dismiss the state government.
"Will tell the President to dismiss the current government in Uttarakhand as they have lost majority. Harish Rawat is now trying to buy people in a fit of desperation to gain support, but he will not succeed. It is his streak of corruption that has led to this situation," BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya said.
Read: Former Uttarakhand CM Vijay Bahuguna's son expelled from Congress for six years
Meanwhile, rebel Congress MLA Harak Singh Rawat has written to Uttarakhand Governor KK Paul, urging him to call an Assembly session tomorrow for floor test.
Paul has given Rawat time till March 28 to prove majority and has given time to Congress to deal with the rebel MLAs.
Read: Uttarakhand government in crisis as 9 MLAs rebel
The Congress government in the state is under threat with 9 MLAs rebelling against Rawat and the BJP, which has 27 MLAs, staking claim to form the government.
Rawat had asserted that Uttarakhand was his priority before anything else and if he was not able to prove majority, then he would promptly offer his resignation.
Earlier, Uttarakhand Assembly Speaker Govind Singh Kunjal issued showcause notices to nine rebel Congress legislators, who joined the BJP leaders when they went to meet Governor KK Paul seeking the dismissal of the Harish Rawat -led government.
Read: Uttarakhand political crisis: Harish Rawat floor test by March 28
Rawat is scheduled to arrive in New Delhi today to meet the Congress leadership, apprising them of the current political condition in the state and discuss the next course of action.
Meanwhile, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi has asked Rawat to stay put and handle the situation in the state.
Last week, Rahul had asserted that the blatant attempt to topple governments was the true face of BJP under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Read: Uttarakhand Speaker serves notice to 9 rebel Congress MLAs
"Toppling elected Govts by indulging in horse trading & blatant misuse of money & muscle, seems to be BJP's new model, after failure in Bihar. This attack on our democracy & Constitution, first in Arunachal & now Uttarakhand, is the true face of Modi ji's BJP. Congress Party will fight demagoguery with democracy," Rahul Gandhi said in a series of tweet.
In a strong rebuttal, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley stated that the Sonia Gandhi-led party had 'lowered its level of ambition and was quite content in becoming the tail ender of any alliance' be it in Tamil Nadu, West Bengal or Bihar.
