UPA-1 wanted to dismiss Mulayam Singh's govt in UP in 2007: Hansraj Bhardwaj

New Delhi: Blunting the Congress' attack on the Modi government over the imposition of President's Rule in Uttarakhand and earlier in Arunachal Pradesh, party leader Hansraj Bhardwaj, Friday, alleged that the UPA-1 government had wanted to dismiss Mulayam Singh Yadav's government in Uttar Pradesh in 2007 over alleged corruption.

Bhardwaj, who was union law minister during UPA-1, alleged that the Congress 'core group' was very keen to sack the Mulayam Singh government and impose President's Rule.

Bhardwaj said he was staunchly opposed to the idea as it was unconstitutional to sack a state government that had numbers in the Assembly over alleged corruption charges.

While then PM Manmohan Singh was in two minds, other senior leaders including Sonia Gandhi, Pranab Mukherjee, P Chidambaram, Kapil Sibal and Shivraj Patil were all united in the belief that there was ground to impose President's Rule in Uttar Pradesh.

Bhardwaj claimed that P Chidambaram was the prime mover behind the plan while Kapil Sibal was the man responsible for drafting the plan.

The former law minister, who has since fallen out with the Congress leadership, said that he was eased out of the ministry because he did not toe the Congress line on several matters like 2G spectrum allocation.