Centre to Revoke President’s Rule, Harish Rawat to Return as CM

Harish Rawat has been reinstated as Uttarakhand Chief Minister with Congress’ victory in the confidence vote.

File photo of Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat addressing a press conference in Dehradun. (Photo: IANS)

Ousted Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat has made a comeback in the state as the Congress clinched the requisite numbers in the Assembly on Tuesday. The Supreme Court announced the results on 11 May.

The issue of revocation of President’s rule will be taken up on 13 May, said KC Kaushik, appearing for Harish Rawat in Supreme Court.

The Attorney General confirmed Harish Rawat’s majority to the Supreme Court. Rawat secured 33 votes out of a total of 61 qualified members.

The floor test was held under the supervision of the Supreme Court to determine whether or not Rawat would be able to secure a majority in the confidence vote.

In the follow-up to the floor test result, Rahul Gandhi said:

They did their worst. We did our best. Democracy won in Uttarakhand. Hope Modi <i>Ji</i> learns his lesson – people of this country &amp; institutions built by our founding fathers will not tolerate the murder of democracy.

Supreme Court confirmed that there were no irregularities in the voting pattern or the process of carrying out of the trust vote.

“Yes this is Congress’s victory, victory of the people”, said Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Uttarakhand floor test win.

Addressing the media after the Supreme Court result was announced, Harish Rawat spoke about the CBI summon.

I told CBI I will co-operate with them although they seemed a little too eager. I am willing to co-operate, there is no problem.

Harish Rawat

Rawat also spoke about PM Modi and BJP:

I want to thank and tell my friends in BJP, let us forget the past experience and begin a new chapter. I will also meet PM Modi and Finance Minister (Arun Jaitley) and will tell them that the state of Uttarakhand needs your support.

On the other hand, Congress’ Ahmad Patel called the test result a “bitter lesson” for the BJP:

Uttarakhand has taught BJP a bitter lesson. No matter how hard they try they can neither intimidate Congress or subvert democracy. Even after trying every trick in the book to topple Opposition states, Modi Sarkar has been brought to its knees. It’s a victory of democracy.

Mayawati had commented earlier in the day on BSP’s support for Congress in the floor test saying:

Supported Congress in the floor test as it was not an election but only a test to form a government. Want to make it clear that BSP won’t form an alliance with any party, will contest independently in all states including Uttarakhand.

The floor test to prove the Congress government’s majority was held after a political battle that lasted over a month with the Centre imposing President’s rule on 27 March after nine Congress MLAs voted with the BJP in the House on the budget-related Appropriation Bill on 18 March. The House Speaker disqualified the rebels, and the decision was upheld later by the High Court and Supreme Court, which paved the way for the floor test.

The nine rebel Congress MLAs were later disqualified from participating in the floor test by the Supreme Court.