The Central government will challenge the ruling of the Uttarakhand High Court revoking President’s Rule in the State. Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi said this after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Home Minister Rajnath Singh and leaders of the BJP, including party president Amit Shah, went into a huddle on how to proceed following the legal setback.
“We will be moving the Supreme Court against the setting aside of the Presidential notification by the Uttarakhand High Court. We have nothing to do with the petition filed by disqualified MLAs,” Mr. Rohatgi said. The government will file the appeal around 10.30 a.m. on Friday.
The BJP and its team dealing with the crisis, including Mr. Shah, party general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya and vice-president Shyam Jaju, had already indicated that this would be the party’s option.
There was despondency at the party headquarters on Ashoka Road in Delhi, with Mr. Vijayvargiya anxiously scanning the TV for the latest update on the High Court’s ruling. “We are not surprised by the judgment. With the kind of observations being made for the three days by the court, such an order was expected. There is a question on our minds as Chief Minister Harish Rawat, who was caught in a sting, has been given relief by the court,” Mr. Vijayvargiya said.
“The Harish Rawat government was in a minority yesterday, it is in a minority today and will be tomorrow. This will be proved on April 29,” he added.
Mr. Shyam Jaju did not hide his bitterness. “In all cases, even if the ruling is against us, we do not criticise the honourable court. But in this case, the judiciary should also reflect whether its remarks on the office of the President, which is a constitutional position, is dignified or not,” he said.
BJP’s 27 MLAs have been asked to reach Dehradun and party sources told The Hindu that it was in touch with some of the six independent MLAs. The strength of the Assembly is 70 and after the disqualification of nine rebel Congress MLAs, the total is down to 61. The halfway mark here would be 31 and both the Congress (with 27 MLAs) and the BJP claim the numbers.
