Centre acted on Governor's suggestion: Rijiju

Union Minister Kiren Rijiju today said the Centre had acted only on the suggestion of state Governor Jyoti Prasad Rajkhowa in the Arunachal Pradesh affair and the Supreme Court verdict was not against it. “It is not our case. It will be total misjudgment if somebody says that it is a judgement against the central government. The central government acted on the basis of the report of the Governor,”Rijiju said on the sidelines of the North-East Democratic Alliance’s conclave here.

“Whatever is the political issue, it is within the Congress party and it is in the state Legislative Assembly. We are not part of the whole problem,” he said. The Minister asserted that the Supreme Court verdict was not against the Centre.

Rijiju said the central government would respect and honour the apex court verdict on Arunachal Pradesh. “It’s a Supreme Court judgement. When the matter is in the court, we have to respect it. There is no reason to defy or to criticise the ruling of the honourable Supreme Court. The judgement of the honourable court is always binding and final. We are law-abiding citizen of the country and we will honour the Supreme Court judgement,” he said.

Rijiju says the majority of any government has to be proved on the floor of the House and it will decide the fate of the state government.

“Regarding the issue of the strength of the Assembly, these are the internal matters of the Congress party and the strength has to be proved on the floor of the House. There is no point for anybody to speak about strength outside the Assembly. The floor of the Assembly is the proper platform to test the strength of any political group or party,” he said.