The political crisis in Uttarakhand showed no signs of ending with the Congress Party moving the state high court yesterday against the imposition of President’s Rule.
However, the Bharatiya Janata Party justified central rule, saying the Congress government was “murdering democracy”.
Meanwhile, a delegation led by ousted chief minister Harish Rawat met Governor K K Paul to protest against the imposition of central rule in the hill state.
Justice U C Dhyani of the Uttarakhand High Court has begun hearing a petition filed by the Congress.
“We have come to show our strength and protest against the decision taken against our government,” Congress legislator Yashpal Arya said after party leaders led by Rawat met the governor.
Arya said Rawat government should have been given time to prove its majority.
BJP legislators from Uttarakhand thanked President Pranab Mukherjee for imposing central rule. President’s Rule was clamped on the state on Sunday, a day before Rawat was to seek a floor test in the assembly to prove he had the numbers.
The Uttarakhand assembly has been kept in suspended animation with the proclamation of President’s Rule under Article 356 of the Constitution.
The Congress has termed the move a “murder of democracy”.
Meanwhile, over two dozen BJP legislators arrived in Dehradun to a grand welcome at the Jolly Grant airport yesterday.
The legislators had been camping in Jaipur, Gurgaon and New Delhi for the last one week, to avoid contact with the beleaguered Rawat camp.
State BJP president Teerath Singh Rawat said after his arrival that the state unit was thankful to President Mukherjee for signing the proclamation of central rule.
Other BJP legislators targeted Rawat for drawing Prime Minister Narendra Modi into the issue and said he was doing so only to deflect attention from his failures, poor governance and corruption.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley justified the imposition of President’s rule, saying Rawat should have quit as chief minister after failure of the Appropriation Bill.