Uttarakhand best example of a constitutional crisis: BJP

NEW DELHI: Hinting that the Congress government in Uttarakhand should be dismissed, BJP on Sunday said the political situation in the hill state after the rebellion of nine ruling party MLAs was the best example of a " constitutional crisis".

The use of the term indicated that the party is arguing that there is a breakdown of constitutional machinery, the grounds for the suspension of the assembly and imposition of central rule on the recommendation of the governor.
The BJP strategy is focused on Speaker Govind Singh Kunjwal, who the party says allowed passage of the finance bill despite a majority of lawmakers voting against the state budget.

The party is understood to be ready to move a no-trust motion against the Speaker for allowing the budget to passed by a voice vote.

Referring to the vote on the finance bill, finance minister Jaitley said this might be the first time that the Speaker of a state assembly permitted passage of the finance bill despite the government's lack of numbers. He said democracy was a game of numbers, which was not in favour of the budget.

"This was a failed bill which was passed without division of votes even when members had given in writing that they are against the bill," Jaitley said.

The minister, however, avoided queries about a "vote of no confidence" against the Speaker, saying the matter was with governor K K Paul. But he added that the political crisis in the state was a product of the internal differences in Congress and did not need any prompt from BJP.

Home minister Rajnath Singh slammed Congress's allegations of horse-trading, in Uttarakhand, saying, "BJP doesn't believe in politics of tod-phod (sabotage)."

Though the Uttarakhand governor has asked chief minister Harish Rawat to prove his majority by March 28, BJP members are pulling out all stops to ensure that they win the floor test.

"The party will request the governor to take a call on action against the speaker, who has no right to function after members passed a vote of no confidence against him," said a BJP member.