Sources said the party intends to demand a reply from the government on the Arunachal Pradesh issue and press for the dismissal of Governor Jyoti Prasad Rajkhowa in the wake of the Supreme Court verdict.
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The Supreme Court passed a landmark judgement on Wednesday, directing that the state of Arunachal Pradesh should return to status quo ante (as things were) on 15 December 2015.
The controversy began when 20 MLAs of Congress rebelled against Chief Minister Nabam Tuki.
Seven months after it was laid-off from Arunachal Pradesh, the Congress is back in charge in the state after the Supreme Court on Wednesday turned back called its dismissal “illegal and unconstitutional”.
It scrapped all decisions taken by the state’s governor which led to the ouster of the Congress government led by Chief Minister Nabam Tuki.
Other members of the bench were Justices Dipak Misra, M.B. Lokur, P.C. Ghose and N.V. Ramana.
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat, who had also got relief from the apex court and again taken charge of the state government, lauded the verdict.
“It is a victory of democracy, the law has protected us and protected our country”, Mr Tuki told reporters. The bench was hearing a petition filed against a Gauhati High Court verdict regarding Governor JP Rajkhowa’s decision to bring forward the winter session of the Assembly without consulting Tuki. In that event, the Governor may ‘take the matter into his own hands and act freely’.
It had fixed these pleas for hearing after pronouncement of verdict on petitions dealing with Governor’s discretionary powers in advancing the assembly session and setting the agenda of the House.
The development had come as a major loss of face for the Modi government which had dismissed the Congress government and imposed President’s Rule after nine Congress MLAs sided with the BJP on the Appropriation Bill.
“It is a unusual SC order as it asks the person with a majority to sit in Opposition and the one with minority support to run the government”, said BJP national secretary Shrikant Sharma.
“Resumed my duties as Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh in compliance with Supreme Court order”, Tuki had tweeted.
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Pul also said that 10 of the 15 MLAs who were now with the Congress were also in touch with him to switch over.
