New twist in Uttarakhand, din continues in Parliament

The Narendra Modi government continued to face the Congress-led Opposition’s onslaught for the second day in the Rajya Sabha over the Uttarakhand crisis. Congress MPs continued to shout anti-NDA and anti-PM slogans after their demand for a discussion on a motion on the dismissal of its government in the hill state was rejected. The government, however, made it clear no discussion other than on the proclamation of President’s Rule in Uttarakhand could take place in the House, which saw repeated adjournments and a war of words between the treasury benches and Congress members.

In another development, meanwhile, Congress’ chief whip in the state assembly Indira Hridayesh rejected the party’s dissident leaders’ claim that they were still in the Congress. The chief whip told the Uttarakhand high court that the nine rebel MLAs had “in one voice” with BJP legislators told governor K.K. Paul that the Harish Rawat government was in a minority and offered themselves as an alternative.