"We have sought President's protection to ensure sanctity of Constitution," Sonia Gandhi said after the meeting.
The Congress today accused Arunachal Pradesh governor Jyoti Prashad Rajkhowa of acting against the Constitution and making attempts to destabilise the state government "on instructions from the Central government."
Senior Congress leaders led by party chief Sonia Gandhi met President Pranab Mukherjee today to seek his intervention. The Congress runs the majority government in the state. "We have sought President's protection to ensure sanctity of Constitution," Mrs Gandhi said after the meeting.
The party repeatedly disrupted the Rajya Sabha yesterday and today while it staged a walk out in the Lok Sabha against the governor's decision to advance the state assembly session by nearly a month to December 18.
The session has been convened to decide on an impeachment motion against the Speaker -- a Congress leader -- moved by 11 BJP MLAs and Congress rebels. 21 of the 47 Congress legislators want a new leader. With the assembly building in Itanagar sealed, the rebels today convened an assembly session outside and "impeached" Speaker Nabam Rebia.
"Governor of Arunachal Pradesh is behaving like a dictator," Leader of the Opposition, Ghulam Nabi Azad had said in the House on Tuesday.
"The governor summoned the assembly session without consulting the state government or the chief minister. Governor himself fixed the agenda and decided that the Speaker will not preside over the proceedings. This is not within the rights of the Governor," he said.
After the Congress leaders met the President this afternoon, Mr Azad told journalists, "It is a matter of regret that unconstitutional actions are being taken by the Arunachal Pradesh governor on the directions of the central government." He said Mr Rajkhowa had rescheduled the session without consulting chief minister Nabam Tuki.
The Congress has been accusing the BJP of trying to engineer defections in the state. The BJP's defence is that a leadership tussle within the Congress is the cause for some of its legislators being dissatisfied.