As the Congress disrupted the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday over the alleged attempts by Arunachal Pradesh Governor Jyoti Prashad Rajkhowa to “destabilise” the party’s government in the State, Minister of State (Home Affairs) and senior BJP leader Kiren Rijiju brushed the allegation aside, describing it as the Congress party’s “internal matter.”
“The Centre has nothing to do with it,” Mr. Rijiju told The Hindu. Earlier in the day, Congress president Sonia Gandhi met President Pranab Mukherjee and handed over a memorandum that highlighted the party’s issues with Governor Rajkhowa.
The party’s main charge was that the ruling BJP was abusing the Governor’s office to topple Chief Minister Nabam Tuki’s government in Arunachal Pradesh. It called for the Governor’s dismissal.
Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Ghulam Nabi Azad, said in the House that the Governor had passed an “unprecedented” order that prevented the Speaker of the State Assembly from conducting the proceedings. Instead,
Mr. Rajkhowa had asked the Deputy Speaker — whom the Congress perceives as a BJP supporter — to oversee the session.
But Mr. Rijiju, a parliamentarian from Arunachal Pradesh, said: “The situation in Arunachal Pradesh is due to the dissidence within the Congress. How is the Centre responsible for the situation in the State Assembly? It is their government and they should resolve it instead of blaming it on the Bharatiya Janata Party.”
The Congress forced repeatedadjournments of the Rajya Sabha over the issue while in the Lok Sabha, its members, including Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, staged a walkout.
