Uttarakhand: Governor Asks Harish Rawat To Prove Majority By March 28

Dehradun/New Delhi: Uttarakhand Governor KK Paul has written to Chief Minister Harish Rawat this evening and asked him to prove his majority on the floor of the house before March 28.The state government came under threat on Friday night with 27 BJP legislators meeting the governor and staking claim to form the government.

The BJP lawmakers were also joined by nine rebel legislators from the Congress, including former Chief Minister Vijay Bahugana and cabinet minister Harak Singh Rawat, who was expelled from the cabinet on Saturday evening.

CM Rawat maintained there was no threat to his government and said, "We are ready to prove our majority." He said the rebel MLAs "are in touch with us. They haven't left the Congress." Mr Rawat has sought a meeting with the Governor today. "We told our rebel MLAs that their behaviour is inappropriate, they should have spoken to us," he said. The Congress in New Delhi blamed BJP President Amit Shah for the crisis. "It is a part of the BJP's 'topple Congress' drive," a Congress leader said.

"If the Congress fails to protect its government, it's their responsibility," Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said.

After they were paraded before the governor in Dehradun by the BJP's state leadership late on Friday night, the legislators took a chartered flight to Delhi. They are expected to meet Mr Shah today. Some rebel legislators have also said they want to call on President Pranab Mukherjee.

The nine rebel Congress legislators had earlier joined the opposition BJP in the state assembly to demand a division of votes on the finance bill yesterday. Speaker Govind Singh Kunjwal rejected the demand for a physical vote on the Budget and declared it passed by a voice vote triggering chaos in the assembly. Opposition BJP and rebel Congress lawmakers protested with a sit-in inside the well of the house.  Mr Kunjwal adjourned the house till March 28.

Ministers in the Harish Rawat government, Harak Singh Rawat and Mantri Prasad Nithani even came to blows. The agitating BJP legislators then went to the Governor's house to seek a meeting with him.

Mr Rawat has a razor thin majority in the 70-member house. The Congress has 36 members, one more than the half it needs and so has zero breathing space and counts also on the independents supporting it for stability. The BJP has 28 MLAs.

Mr Bahuguna, who was replaced by Mr Rawat as Chief Minister two years ago causing much heartburn, said the "chief minister should resign on moral grounds."

The BJP says the Congress-led government is in minority in the state and has lost the moral right to rule. It claims it has the support of a total of 35 MLAs  (excluding Ganesh Joshi, who was arrested on charges of assaulting a police horse Shaktiman during a BJP protest on Monday).

But the Chief Minister says his government has the numbers. He had said on Friday he is ready for a floor test.