Victory resounded for the Congress Party in the decisive Uttarakhand floor test as the Supreme Court on Wednesday announced the grand old party now has the majority in the state assembly.
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BJP MLAs meet ahead of the floor test in Uttarakhand.
A defection each was reported from both the Congress and the BJP, with rebel BJP MLA Bhimraj Arya voting in favour of Rawat and Congress MLA Rekha Arya voting against the Congress government. The end result would probably not have been different, except that the apex court would not have had occasion to supervene the Speaker.
And Congress also had supported from different lawmakers.
Ousted Uttarakhand chief minister Harish Rawat flashed victory signs as he seemed to have edged past the BJP in the high-stakes trial of strength in the Uttarakhand Assembly on Tuesday.
As Rohatgi informed the Supreme Court of the floor test result, the bench, comprising Justice Dipak Misra and Justice Shiva Kirti Singh, modified its April 22 order. “If the central leadership had waited till the election, we had a chance of upstaging Rawat, but all hope is lost now”, said a state BJP leader. Secondly, its alliance with an ‘anti-BJP front which is yet to take final shape in the state is also not to be ruled out.
We will revoke President’s rule in Uttarakhand, Centre tells SC. However, for the clear picture one have to wait till tomorrow when Supreme Court would open the sealed envelopes.
Independent MLA Harish Chandra Durgapal claimed that all six PDF (two BSP, one UKD and three independents) members voted for Rawat.
The Supreme Court will hear the petition of nine rebel Congress legislators of Uttarakhand on Wednesday but they apparently don’t want to wait that long to decide their future course of action.
After several rounds of appeals and counter-appeals in courts, the nine rebels, disqualified by speaker Govind Kunjwal, were barred by the Supreme Court from voting in Tuesday’s floor test. “He is in the kabza (grip) of Harish Rawat”. At that time the UP governor summarily dismissed the Kalyan Singh-led BJP government and appointed Loktantrik Congress leader Jagdambika Pal as CM.
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Hours after the supposed Congress win, Union minister Nitin Gadkari said BJP would “co-operate” and did not consider the development as a setback to the party.
