Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Tuesday expressed apprehension that the BJP may indulge in horse-trading to form government in Maharashtra after imposing President’s Rule there.
He expressed the apprehension, alleging that the decision to impose the President’s Rule in the state has been taken under duress from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah.
“Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari had invited the third largest party, the National Congress Party, for the government formation in the state. The time limit for it was to end at 8.30 pm on Tuesday, but the governor made a recommendation for imposing the President’s Rule even before the expiry of that time limit,” Singh told reporters here.
This cannot be termed as right in a democracy, he said.
“The governor had adopted the right procedure in the beginning and invited turn-by-turn BJP and Shiv Sena, which are the two largest parties, and had then invited the NCP for government formation,” said Singh.
“But all of a sudden, a recommendation for imposing the President’s Rule was made,” he added.
“This sudden decision indicates that it had been taken under the pressure of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah,” he said.
“In the garb of the President’s Rule, BJP may indulge in horse-trading,” he added.
“The BJP has broken its promise to Shiv Sena and I have sympathy with the Sena,” he said.
The Congress on Tuesday slammed Maharashtra Governor BS Koshyari’s move of recommending President’s Rule in the state without giving the stipulated time to the stakeholders and not inviting the Congress when he called all the other parties.
“Governor Koshyari has committed a grave travesty of the democracy & made a mockery of the Constitutional process in recommending President’s Rule in Maharashtra. Four grave violations of the Constitutional Scheme, as expressed in SR Bommai judgment, stand out,” Congress’ chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said in a series of tweets.
“In absence of any single party having majority In Maharashtra, Gov should have called Single largest pre-poll alliance i.e BJP-Shiv Sena together Then Second largest post-poll alliance i.e Congress-NCP.”
Surjewala also questioned the Governor for not calling the Congress.
“In case Gov called individual parties, why did he not call INC? And above all; Why the completely arbitrary allotment of time? 48 hours to BJP, 24 hrs to Sena & not even 24 hours to NCP, before the Presidents Rule,” he said, terming the move “unashamedly dishonest & politically motivated”.
The Union Cabinet on Tuesday recommended the President rule on the report of the Governor invoking Article 356 of the Constitution in the state.
(With agency inputs)