As the Congress, Aam Aadmi party (AAP) and other opposition parties hailed Rawat’s return, asserting that democracy has won, the CPI(M) said the “anti-constitutional conspiracy” hatched by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to topple the state government had met with a “big setback”.
The BJP on its part sought to fend off the attack on the party after the Supreme Court approved Rawat’s return, claiming that the Congress had “bought” majority in the state but it has lost “Uttarakhand people's majority”.
“They (BJP) did their worst. We did our best. Democracy won in Uttarakhand! Hope Modiji learns his lesson– people of this country and the institutions built by our founding fathers will not tolerate the murder of democracy!,” Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi tweeted.
“The PM should apologise in Parliament and sack the Minister who advised him to impose President’s Rule in Uttarakhand,” said Congress leader Kapil Sibal.
Delhi Chief Minister and AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal also took to Twitter to hit out at the Modi government. “Modi Govt shud apologise to the nation for acting in unconstitutional and undemocratic manner in Uttarakhand,” he tweeted.
The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) said the reinstatement of Rawat is a big setback for the BJP. “This is a big setback to the anti-Constitutional conspiracy hatched by the BJP of trying to topple the government in the state and impose its rule there. The BJP should learn that its resorting to such methods at subterfuge to remove democratically elected state governments headed by opposition parties will not succeed,” the party said in a statement.
Meanwhile, the BJP, in its defence, said the Congress had imposed President’s rule in the country on over 100 occasions and alleged that they had “bought” the majority in Uttarakhand but the party had lost the majority of the people of the state. “Congress has put President’s rule in the country for more than 100 times. It (Uttarakhand episode) was Congress’ internal strife. There was revolt among the Congress MLAs due to the anti-people policy of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. The MLAs revolted against Harish Rawat as he was involved in corruption,” said BJP national secretary Shrikant Sharma.
He added: “That is why their government fell and President's rule was imposed in the state. Congress has bought majority, they did not get majority. But Congress has lost Uttarakhand people's majority.”
Cong has lost confidence of people: BJP
With its hopes of wresting power in Uttarakhand dashed, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday lashed out at the Congress and Rahul Gandhi, saying that he should not give sermons as his party has “murdered” democracy by “paying off” legislators and has “lost” the confidence of the people of the state. “Congress, which is a murderer of democracy, is undemocratic and is a champion of corruption, should not give sermons to BJP on democracy. Congress has lost the confidence of people of Uttarakhand by purchasing the majority in the state assembly,” BJP’s national secretary Shrikant Sharma alleged.