Taking its battle over the Uttarakhand issue to the President, BJP today demanded dismissal of the Harish Rawat government, claiming Congress has lost majority in the Assembly.
The party, which initially planned to take rebel Congress MLAs along with their legislators in a show of numbers, dropped the plan after getting signals that it would not be appropriate.
BJP MLAs marched to Rashtrapati Bhawan and later a delegation of party leaders, including its MPs from the state, besides party vice president Shyam Jaju, general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya and state unit chief Ajay Bhatt met President Pranab Mukherjee.
"This government is in a minority. It has no right to stay in power even for a minute," Vijayvargiya said, adding they sought the President's intervention and dismissal of the government.
He termed the Speaker's decision to declare the Finance Bill, on which BJP and rebel Congress MLAs had sought a division of votes, passed as "unconstitutional".
"We have urged the President to go through the video- recorded proceedings of the House as it is clear that a majority of MLAs were against the Budget. The government had fallen on the very day," he said.
Party MP Tarun Vijay, who was part of the delegation, said there was a "constitutional breakdown" in the state and it was "crystal clear" a majority of MLAs are against the government.
"We have requested the President to dismiss the government," he said.
Speaking about the dramatic developments in the hill state, a senior BJP leader claimed it was rebel Congress MLAs who got in touch with the party as they believed their political career was "over" in their party as they were "completely sidelined".
"We never approached them. They sought us out first. Their demand was simple that they wanted the government out and were willing to lend support to BJP. If we form the government, only some of them would be made ministers. For them it was more about their future political prospects than anything else," he said.
It was only after the rebel Congress MLAs approached the BJP that the party approached Governor K K Paul, telling him that it would push for a division of votes in the Assembly and he should order video-recording of entire proceeding.
BJP sources said they were disappointed with Paul's decision to give Rawat time till March 28 to prove his majority when "a majority of MLAs" went to him against the government.
