Congress asks SC to quash Cabinet's nod for President Rule in Arunachal

New Delhi: Congress on Monday filed a petition in Supreme Court to quash Union Cabinet's recommendation for President's Rule in Arunachal Pradesh.

"We have filed the petition before the apex court registry," Congress leader and senior advocate Vivek Tankha told PTI. He said the petition has been filed by the state Congress Chief whip Bamang Felix and an urgent hearing has been sought.

"We are waiting to hear from the Deputy Registrar who will place the petition before the Chief Justice of India," another lawyer said.

“In the event, the recommendation of the cabinet is affirmed and accented to, by the president, we’ll challege the imposition of President’s rule and we’ll say that this is in fact trying to bypass a matter which is a subjudice and trying to take advantage by using their constitutional power to destabilise a state, which needs stability,” said senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal had said at a press conference.

Read: President's Rule? Arunachal CM slams Centre, calls it 'vendetta politics'

Senior leaders of the party lashed out at the Modi-led government and accused it for trying to 'de-stabilise governments' in non-BJP states.

A Congress delegation led by party chief Sonia Gandhi will meet President Pranab Mukherjee at the Rashtrapati Bhavan Monday evening in the backdrop to discuss the issue.

The Congress delegation is expected to meet President Mukherjee at around 5 p.m.

The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Sunday recommended imposition of President's rule in Arunachal Pradesh, which is rocked by political turmoil that broke out last month.

The recommendation has been sent to President Mukherjee for his approval.

The government has justified its position, saying there is a constitutional crisis and the people of the state have been suffering for too long.

Read: Constitutional crisis in Arunachal led to President's rule recommendation: BJP

The Congress has, however, dubbed the government's move as 'unconstitutional' and alleged that it exposed the dictatorial tendencies of Prime Minister Modi.

The crisis began on December 16 last year when 21 rebel Congress MLAs joined hands with 11 BJP and two independent members to impeach Speaker Nabam Rebia at a makeshift venue.

In the 60-member assembly, 26 MLAs including Chief Minister Nabam Tuki, boycotted the session calling it illegal and unconstitutional. A day later, the rebels and opposition legislators gathered at a community hall and voted out the Chief Minister.

Both sides then approached the Gauhati High Court and later the Supreme Court. The matter is now before the constitution bench.