Arunachal under President’s rule, SC to hear challenge today
Arunachal Pradesh was rocked by a political crisis on December 16 last year as 21 rebel Congress MLAs joined hands with the BJP’s 11 MLAs and two Independents to impeach assembly Speaker Nabam Rebia at a makeshift venue. The Speaker termed the move as illegal and unconstitutional.
Arunachal Pradesh has been placed under central rule after President Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday consented to the union cabinet’s recommendation of imposing the President’s rule in the eastern state.
The Centre appointed former Delhi police commissioner YS Dadwal and former home secretary GS Patnaik as advisors to the Arunachal Pradesh governor.
The approval came a day before the Supreme Court is to hear state Congress leader Rajesh Tacho’s plea against the Narendra Modi government’s proposal on the allegation that it is an “illegal and unlawful” attempt by the Centre and state governor Jyoti Prasad Rajkhowa to topple the Nabam Tuki government.
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The Congress reacted sharply to the move. “It is the murder of the Constitution on the day when it is being celebrated. On the Republic Day, the Constitution and democracy have been murdered,” party spokesman Tom Vadakkan said. The JD-U and AAP also spoke against the imposition of the President’s Rule in the state.
A Congress delegation had called on the President to seek his intervention hours after home minister Rajnath Singh met Mukherjee to explain the Centre’s action. The delegation, including senior leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad, Mallikarjun Kharge and Kapil Sibal, also submitted a memorandum saying that this was for the first time that a decision to impose President’s rule had been taken in the midst of a court hearing.
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Stung by the move, the Congress has declared an “all-out war against the trampling of the Constitution” by the Modi government and also sought to rally all non-BJP parties against the move in and outside Parliament.
Sibal had earlier come down hard on governors with RSS background appointed by the Centre alleging that they had “trivialised the high office by acting as “pracharaks of the RSS”.
Read | It’s against Constitution: Politicians on Arunachal Prez rule move
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