Harish Rawat has said imposing President's Rule in Uttarakhand is "murder of democracy."
Highlights
- Congress moves High Court against President's Rule in Uttarakhand
- President's Rule imposed day before Harish Rawat was to prove his majority
- Centre 'out to destabilise our state governments,' alleges Congress
Top Congress leaders and lawyers Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Kapil Sibal moved the High Court in Nainital this morning against the imposition of President's Rule in Uttarakhand.
In state capital Dehradun, the Congress' Harish Rawat, chief minister till yesterday, met his party's lawmakers and then went to Raj Bhawan to meet the Governor.
"Even today we can prove full majority, this is what the BJP feared," said Congress MLA Hemesh Kharkwal before the meeting. The party plans to hold a protest rally in Dehradun this evening.
The nine rebel lawmakers of the Congress who scripted the Uttarakhand crisis will also challenge in court their disqualification from the Uttarakhand assembly by the Speaker.
The BJP-led Centre cited a constitutional breakdown while imposing President's Rule in Uttarakhand on Sunday, a day before Harish Rawat was to have undertaken a floor test in the state assembly to prove his majority.
Uttarakhand Governor KK Paul's reports on the political situation and on a sting operation against Mr Rawat, aired over the weekend, are said to have played a key role in that decision. Mr Rawat has called it a "murder of democracy."
On Sunday night, Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi tweeted:Uttarakhand is a "textbook example of breakdown of governance," said Finance minister Arun Jaitley who on Sunday carried the recommendation of the Union Cabinet to the President Pranab Mukherjee and is said to have explained the rationale behind it to him.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi cut short his Assam tour to attend the Cabinet meeting.
Also on Sunday, Speaker Govind Singh Kunjwal announced that he had disqualified the nine Congress lawmakers who rebelled against Mr Rawat, under the anti-defection law.
That would have allowed the Rawat government to sail through the trust vote had it been held.
The rebel lawmakers released a sting video on Saturday, alleging that Mr Rawat was attempting horse-trading to save his government. In the video, Mr Rawat is purportedly seen talking to the owner of a news channel about lawmakers being brought to his side through bribery.
Mr Rawat has rejected the video as fake.