 "Cabinet for President's Rule in Arunachal Pradesh")
The Union Cabinet on Sunday recommended President's Rule in Arunachal Pradesh after an unscheduled meeting in the morning chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
A Congress-led government was in power in the state, but following defections, when 21 out of 47 legislators had rebelled against the chief minister, the governor had advanced the session of the Assembly. The Congress had gone to court and obtained a stay on the proceedings.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has 11 MLAs in a House of 60.
The Union Cabinet’s decision to impose Article 356 in the state comes even as the matter is being heard in the Supreme Court. A letter has been sent to the President's office conveying the Cabinet decision to impose President's Rule in the border state. The Assembly has been kept in suspended animation.
“The government knows it does not have majority in the Rajya Sabha. It did this so that it can alter the complexion of the Assembly before the matter comes up in Parliament,” said Congress leader Kapil Sibal.
A five-member Constitution bench is hearing the legal validity of the governor’s decision.
The move means that the Budget session of Parliament scheduled to start in the third week of February will be far from tranquil. The passage of the goods and services tax Bill in the Rajya Sabha is unlikely to be passed in these changed circumstances. The Congress and other parties had disrupted the winter session of Parliament because the Arunachal governor had advanced the Assembly session and had directed the first item on the agenda should be a resolution for removal of the Speaker. He had directed that the Deputy Speaker, who is disgruntled with the Congress, “shall preside over the House from the first moment of the first sitting of the House in accordance with provisions in article 181(1) of the Constitution”.
The governor’s message dated December 9 further instructed that the procedures related to the removal of the Speaker “shall be completed at the first sitting of the session itself” and that “until the session is prorogued, no presiding officer shall alter the party composition in the House”.
The Congress had argued there is no provision either under the Constitution or the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business, which empowers the governor to advance the session of the Assembly without consulting the chief minister and council of ministers.
It is the CM and the council of ministers that recommend convening of the Assembly.
Timeline of Arunachal crisis
• November 2011: Nabam Tuki wins the election and becomes Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh. His brother Nebum Rebhia is appointed Speaker
• December 2014: Health and Family welfare minister Kalikho Pul is dropped from the government in a cabinet reshuffle
• April 2015: Kalikho Pul charges the government with financial mismanagement. He is expelled from the Congress party on charges of anti-party activity.
• May 2015 to October 2015: Kalikho Pul meets with BJP leaders in Arunachal. More Congress MLAs join the group of rebels including the Deputy Speaker
• November, 2015: A notice for resolution for removal of the Deputy Speaker of the state Assembly is submitted by the MLAs of Congress
• November, 2015: BJP MLAs issued a notice for resolution for removal of the Speaker of the State Assembly
• December, 2015: The Governor, without consulting the Chief Minister and his Council of Ministers, issues an order under Article 174(1) of the Constitution of India advancing the 6th Session of the State Assembly to December 16, 2015 though the session was to commence from January 14, 2016.
• The Governor also sends a message under Article 175(2) of the Constitution of India inter-alia fixing the "resolution for removal of the Speaker" as the 1st item of the agenda for the State Assembly on its 1st sitting in its 6th Session
• December, 2015: Pul is allegedly heard making derogatory remarks about Nyishi tribe and also seeking money from a businessman to bring in a BJP government in the state
• December 2015: A parallel sitting of the assembly is held in a building near the assembly (which is locked by the Tuki government) attended by 33 MLAs, removing the Speaker, and appointing another speaker. Kalikho Pul is named the new Chief Minister.
• December 2015: The Congress petitions the Guwahati High Court which puts the matter on hold till February, 2016.
• January, 2016: State leaders from the Congress come to Delhi to meet the party high command. The party says it has confidence in Tuki’s leadership
• January 2016: President’s Rule is imposed in Arunachal Pradesh
