After the Supreme Court on Monday barred nine disqualified Congress MLAs from participating in the floor test of the Harish Rawat government in the Uttarakhand assembly on Tuesday, BJP leader Subramanian Swamy said it was not a setback to the Bharatiya Janata Party as his party has nothing to do with it.
"They are Congress' MLAs and they have got nothing to do with the BJP. They are disqualified. There will a floor test as directed by the Supreme Court," he said, adding that there will be an election next year and all these things will be discussed then.
"The BJP has not gone to the court, it is the Attorney General, because a notice was issued to us. He is representing the Government of India. We have only said that there is a constitutional requirement that vote should be taken on the Appropriation Bill, but the court said it doesn't matter, these MLAs cannot vote, and furthermore, there should be a floor test, we are ready for it."
In a major blow to the BJP-led Centre, the SC in an interim order on Monday refused to allow the nine rebel Uttarakhand Congress MLAs to participate in the floor test on Tuesday.
The apex court, which said voting in floor test shall take place tomorrow as directed, will hear the matter next on July 12.
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The nine rebel Congress MLAs had earlier approached the apex court for an urgent hearing against the Uttarakhand High Court's order dismissing their plea which challenged their disqualification.
The rebel MLAs moved the apex court this morning after Justice U.C. Dhyani of the Uttarakhand High Court pronounced his order dismissing their petition challenging Speaker Govind Singh Kunjwal's decision to disqualify them.
The nine Congress MLAs had stood against their party on March 18 and supported the BJP by asking for a division of votes on the Appropriation Bill, after which the Speaker had disqualified them.
Earlier, the apex court had said the disqualified MLAs would not be able to cast their vote as long as their disqualification remained.
Excluding the nine disqualified Congress 'rebel' MLAs, the floor test will involve 27 Congress MLAs, 28 BJP MLAs, six PDF members and one nominated member.
The total members to vote being 62, Harish Rawat will need 32 votes to be reinstated as the chief minister of Uttarakhand.
