Uttarakhand may turn into another Arunachal Pradesh for Congress

NEW DELHI: Close on the heels of fall of Congress government in Arunachal Pradesh, the grand old party is reeling under another internal rebellion in Uttarakhand that appeared to threaten the continuance of its four year old government in Dehradun.

The situation has come to be very precarious with one third of ruling Congress' MLAs rebelling against the treasury benches during a vote on the Finance Bill of the annual Budget in the state assembly on Friday.

The 12 rebel MLAs, BJP leaders in Delhi claimed, included former chief minister Vijay Bahuguna and state minister Harak Singh Rawat. While the ruling party claimed to have got the Finance Bill through the assembly through the voice vote, the rebel MLAs queered the pitch claiming that they did not support government and decided to approach state governor. Opposition BJP, too, latched on to this opportunity claiming that Harish Rawat government has lost the trust of the House after rebel in Congress ranks and consequently defeat of the Finance Bill. BJP MLAs, too, petitioned the governor.

In an assembly of 70 members, Congress enjoyed a very thin majority with 36 MLAs on its side with opposition BJP having 28 MLAs. However, the rebellion of 12 Congress MLAs is sure to pull the the government down, they with BJPs 28 MLAs hold the potential to form the next government. There appeared no final word from the governor's office, but the political situation in the state has definitely turned into a Constitutional crisis where the role of governor holds the key to the resolution of the situation.

Enthused BJP has already started dismissal of Harish Rawat government in the state to pave the way for the next government in the state.

"Uttarakhand government has failed to deliver development. Congress MLAs are also aware of it. So many of them are unhappy with their own government. Even its own Cabinet minister (Agriculture minister Harak Singh Rawat) is voting against government should not continue in office. Rawat should resign," BJP spokesperson Anil Baluni said over the developments.

Uttarakhand is slated to go to polls early next year and the election commission would be well placed to call for elections anytime after September this year.