Congress accuses BJP of dismantling Opposition govts in states, urges President Pranab to intervene

New Delhi:  A delegation of senior Congress leaders on Monday met President Pranab Mukherjee and accused the BJP and the central government of dismantling opposition governments in states, especially those ruled by the Congress.

In its memorandum submitted to the president, Congress sought to bring to his attention the "blatant, arbitrary and unconstitutional actions" of the BJP and the union government to "destabilise and topple" the democratically-elected Uttarakhand government.

"The Congress has a clear majority in the legislative assembly. Attempts are being made to recommend imposition of president`s rule in Uttarakhand. Such a course of action, if endorsed by the union government, would be unconstitutional.

"Any attempt by the government at the behest of the BJP to impose President`s Rule would be ex facie illegal. Resort to Article 356 of the constitution in these circumstances would be a mockery since the present government enjoys the confidence of members of the House and is ready to prove its majority on the floor of the house on the 28th of March 2016," said the memorandum.

"Attempts are also being made to persuade the governor to prepone the session to render proceedings under the Tenth Schedule infructuous. This is also a constitutional impropriety. Through this memorandum we are apprising you of recent events in Uttarakhand and hope that you will use your good offices to uphold the rule of law by not allowing a duly elected government to be destabilised through unconstitutional means in this fashion," it added.

Interacting with reporters afterwards, party leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, who lead the delegation, said: "We apprised the president of situation in Uttarakhand and that how BJP with help of central government has been trying to dismantle opposition governments in the states especially Congress-ruled states."

The delegation also comprised A.K. Antony, Motilal Vora, Ambika Soni, Ahmed Patel and Kapil Sibal.

Azad also alleged that in Uttarakhand, Congress leaders, who are now in Bharatiya Janata Party fold, were held captive by the BJP.

"We informed the president that the BJP people took the Congress leaders into their bus without their consent and presented them before Governor K.K. Paul. Our MLAs have been held captive by them," he said.

He claimed that the BJP with the help of the central government is now putting pressure on the governor to advance the date fixed by him but expressed confidence Chief Minister Harish Rawat will prove his majority.