U'khand: Ahead of floor tets, BJP claims support of more MLAs

Amid ongoing uncertainty over the fate of Harish Rawat government which will face floor test in Uttarakhand assembly on March 28, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday claimed that at least five more MLAs from the Congress led alliance are ready to jump over to its side.

"There are at least five more MLAs in the Congress-led alliance including some occupying ministerial positions only biding their time to switch over to our side," Chief Spokesman of the Pradesh BJP Munna Singh Chauhan told PTI.

"They are in touch with us and will happily jump over to our side in case the arithmetic of the state assembly veers towards a tie during voting in the House on March 28," he said.

Though he refused to disclose the names, Chauhan said that they were both from the Congress and its ruling partner the six-member Progressive Democratic Front – a conglomerate of independents and political parties.

"The resentment against Harish Rawat’s autocratic style of functioning in the party is deeper than it may appear at first sight. It is not confined to the nine rebel MLAs who have openly revolted against him. There are others equally unhappy and are secretly waiting for a change over. They will align with us as and when the opportunity presents itself," he said.

Chauhan claimed as per the rules, state assembly Speaker Govind Singh Kunjwal cannot disqualify the nine rebel MLAs under the anti-defection law.

"The law is very clear in this regard. The speaker can disqualify a member under the anti-defection law only on two grounds. One, defying party whip in the House and two, defecting to another party. None of these apply to the nine rebel MLAs who have neither violated the whip nor defected to any other group or party," he said.

Elaborating on this Chauhan said how can the "rebel MLAs be accused of defying the party whip when the speaker himself disallowed a division of votes on the appropriation bill in the House?"

Even if the speaker’s announcement that the appropriation bill was "passed by voice vote by implication means there was no violation of the party whip," he contended. 

"However, if the speaker ventures into any kind of adventurism and rushes to disqualify the rebel MLAs his action will not stand the scrutiny in a court of law," he warned.