Dehradun: Continuing its tirade against the Centre, the Congress on Saturday alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has murdered the ideology of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee by trying to stake claim to form the government in Uttarakhand.


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"Harak Singh Rawat has been associated with many parties. What he has done is incompetent. He has lost confidence of all. The way Atal Bihari Vajpayee ji had passed the bill in the Lok Sabha. the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) murdered that first in Bihar, then in Arunachal Pradesh and now they have murdered his principles in Uttarakhand," state Congress president Kishore Upadhyay told ANI.


"Now, the BJP will have to think whether it will go to the Parliament to re-appeal the law made by Vajpayee ji. This is a huge insult to Atal Bihari Vajpayee ji. Narendra Modi ji wants to erase all the memories of Atal ji," he added.


Upadhyay further said the Congress has absolute majority and will prove the same in the House of required. The Uttarakhand Congress chief also expressed hope that rebel party MLA Vijay Bahuguna would be back in the party fold.


With the Congress Government in Uttarakhand in crisis, Chief Minister Harish Rawat earlier today asserted that the welfare of the state was his priority and added that he would tender his resignation if he was not able to prove majority.


Speaking to the media here, the Chief Minister stated that the rebel MLAs should have spoken to the Speaker or the Governor separately before taking such a colossal step but added that he was ready to give time to the deflecting MLAs to accept their mistake and apologise for their actions.


Issuing a challenge to the rebel MLAs, he dared them to prove their majority in the House and not `run` to New Delhi.


As many as 26 BJP MLAs and nine rebel Congress legislators arrived in the national capital last night in their bid to topple the Harish Rawat-led Congress Government in Uttarakhand.


A three-member delegation, comprising senior BJP leader Bhagat Singh Koshiyari, Uttarakhand in-charge Shyam Jaju and party general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya met Uttarakhand Governor KK Paul last night and demanded the dismissal of the Harish Rawat-led government while stating that it was in a minority.


The BJP staked claim to form the government with the support of the rebel Congress MLAs.