Cong, BJP delegations meet President Pranab Mukherjee on Uttarakhand crisis

Both the Congress and BJP presented their side of the story to President Pranab Mukherjee on the political developments in Uttarakhand where the two parties are at loggerheads over the crisis facing the Harish Rawat government.

Congress leaders said the President that BJP and the Centre was seeking to destabilise a sensitive border state and it has long-term implications for the national security.

Party spokesman Manish Tewari said the appropriate forum for testing majority of any government was the state assembly.

The Congress delegation was comprise of A K Antony, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Motilal Vora, Ambika Soni, Ahmed Patel and Kapil Sibal.

BJP took out a march from Vijay Chowk to Rashtrapati Bhawan with all its MPs and MLAs, including the nine Congress rebel MLAs, to highlight that the Harish Rawat government had lost majority after it failed to get the finance bill passed and has no moral right to be in power.

They will also highlight the role of the Uttarakhand Speaker whom they allege is acting like an “agent” of Rawat.

A five-member delegation including BJP vice president Shyam Jaju, who is incharge of party affairs in Uttarakhand, general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya and state BJP unit chief Ajay Bhatt, besides former chief minister and rebel Congress leader Vijay Bahuguna and Harak Singh Rawat, a former state minister, meet the President.

The Chief Minister Harish Rawat also accused BJP of making unverified and malicious allegations against his government for political gains.

BJP has levelled three allegations against me related to the land allotment for the smart city project and helping the mining mafia. I want to say categorically that all allegations are baseless, Rawat said.