Congress drops plan to impose Prez Rule
New Delhi, Oct. 12: Changing its strategy on Karnataka crisis, the Congress on Tuesday hinted that the party was disinclined towards pressing for President’s Rule in the state and instead claimed that the BJP government would crumble under its own weight.
Most leaders, who were favouring Central rule in the state till Monday evening after the controversial floor test in the Assembly, have now decided to change their tune following the Governor, Mr H.R. Bhardwaj, asking the Chief Minister, Mr B.S. Yeddyurappa, to go in for a second trust vote on October 14.
Saying that any move to impose President’s Rule in the state would give Mr Yeddyurappa to become a “martyr”, senior leaders in the party, on the condition of anonymity, said, the Congress would not like to be blamed for any toppling game.
“This would give ammunition to BJP to browbeat us in the upcoming Bihar Assembly elections. Why should we give them the opportunity, when we are sure that the BJP government will crumble under its own weight,” they said.
The top leadership of the party, which met on Monday to take stock of the Karnataka situation, weighed the option of invoking Art 356, but realised that the UPA did not have majority in the Rajya Sabha and the parties like the Left and DMK have reservations on the use of the constitutional provision.
Earlier in the morning, the AICC general secretary in-charge for Karnataka, Mr Ghulam Nabi Azad, and the law minister, Mr M. Veerappa Moily, met the Congress president, Mrs Sonia Gandhi, to once again discuss the Karnataka issue.
Meanwhile, the AICC general secretary, Mr B.K. Hariprasad, who hails from Karnataka, said that there was no possibility of the Congress forming any alternative government in alliance with the Janata Dal (Secular).
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