Dehradun: Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat today said that the welfare of the state was his priority and that he would tender his resignation if he was not able to prove majority on the floor of the House.
Speaking to the media here, the Chief Minister stated that the rebel MLAs should have spoken to the Speaker or the Governor separately before taking such a colossal step.
Rawat also reiterated that he was ready to give time to the deflecting MLAs to accept their mistake and apologise for their actions.
"Around four to five rebel MLAs are in touch with us now and I am giving them a chance to accept their mistakes. Their conduct was wrong and if they won't accept it then action will be taken. So far, five of them have contacted me," Rawat said.
Adding that the Congress in the state was ready to prove majority in the House, he said that the ruckus created by the BJP after the adjournment was completely wrong and those who supported it were equally guilty.
Lashing out at the BJP leaders for 'misusing the central machinery', he stated that the Opposition was making desperate attempts to get rid of the Congress government in the state.
"Their schemes will fail for sure. I will prove my majority on the floor of the House. I am a democratic individual and the moment I lose my majority, I will offer my resignation. The BJP is flustered right now keeping 2019 in mind, which is why they are attacking our government," Rawat said.
Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala in New Delhi alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah, who are drunk with power, are using sinister means to destabilise elected governments.
He said that the duo have now become infamous for forcible evacuation of elected governments in this country.
"First, elected governments are destabilised by a sinister conspiracy and then they are sought to be unseated without the will of people. First Arunachal and now Uttarakhand. Modi ji and Amit Shah ji are trying to destabilise Opposition's government, particularly Congress party's government," he said.
A three-member delegation, comprising senior BJP leader Bhagat Singh Koshiyari, Uttarakhand in-charge Shyam Jaju and party general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya met Uttarakhand Governor KK Paul last night and demanded the dismissal of the Harish Rawat-led government while stating that it was in a minority.
According to Raj Bhavan sources, the BJP had staked claim to form the government with the support of the rebel Congress MLAs.
The simmering discontent within a section of Congress legislature came to the fore on a day of fast paced developments in the hill state when the nine Congress rebels joined the BJP in the state Assembly in demanding a division of votes amid chaos on the state's annual budget that could have led to its fall.
State Assembly Speaker Govind Singh Kunjwal, however, rejected the demand for the division of votes triggering chaos in the Assembly with both Opposition BJP and rebel Congress MLAs sitting on a dharna in the well of the House to insist on this procedure terming it their democratic right.
The Congress has a strength of 36 MLAs in the 70-member Uttarakhand Assembly. The ruling party also has the support of 6 members of the Progressive Democratic Front, while the BJP has 28 MLAs.
