Congress today criticised acting Arunachal Pradesh Governor Tathagata Roy for rejecting Chief Minister Nabam Tuki's plea for more time to prove his majority saying he cannot unilaterally convene an assembly session on his own.
Ahead of the crucial floor test tomorrow, Congress leaders cited past Supreme Court judgements and Sarkaria Commission report and said The Governor is required to give at least 30 days time before holding the majority test.
Sources, however, said Congress has prepared its strategy and will not let the floor test to be held tomorrow. They also said that Congress may seek a clarification from the court on Governor's powers.
"The Governor cannot convene a session unilaterally. There are Supreme Court judgements in this regard. The Sarkaria Commission says at least 30 days have to be given for holding such a test. The Governor can only advise the chief minister, who in consultation with his council of ministers, can convene an assembly session," a senior Congress leader said.
Senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal said the party is ready for a test but the session has to be convened on government's advice. Asked if Congress was ready for a floor test tomorrow, he said the Governor cannot dictate on when to convene the assembly session.
"The Supreme Court has said that it has to be decided between the chief minister and the Speaker and advise the Governor when to call the House. It is not the Governor's prerogative to call the House," Sibal told PTI.
"We are ready for a floor test on July 24 or 25," he said, adding that it cannot be held tomorrow.
Tuki told Roy that he needs 10 days to call the session and in doing so has cited the Sarkaria Commission report which speaks of granting 30 days to the chief minister to prove majority.
For a session to be convened, a notification has to be issued by the government and the Tuki government is not inclined to do so.
In the 60-member house, Congress is precariously placed as 21 of its MLAs continue to be rebels and are with the ousted Chief Minister Kalikho Pul.
But Congress leaders claimed that as on December 15, 2015, the date to which the Supreme Court has restored status quo ante in the state, the party had 45 MLAs in a 58-member House where two seats were vacant, BJP had 11 and two were independents.
"On December 15, 2015, rebel MLAs of the Congress had not defected from the party as per the Anti Defection Law and were hence technically with Congress," a party leader said.
Asked about the issue, Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari said the situation reinforces that Narendra Modi government has "absolutely no respect for democracy".
"They have misused and abused the instrumentalities of the State including the Office of the Governor in order to undermine democratically elected opposition governments.
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"Now, when for the first time, the Supreme Court actually restored the clock back to 15th of December 2015 and put the incumbent Chief Minister back into office, the central government again, through the Governor, is now trying to undermine the essence and the spirit of the Supreme Court judgment," Tewari said.
He said reasonable time must be given to the Chief Minister or to a political party to prove its majority on the floor of the House.
"The manner in which the Governor is trying to hasten the decision, ostensibly on the instructions of the Central Government, again orchestrating a command performance, is nothing but a very crude attempt to undermine the very strong indictment of the Government by Supreme Court," Tewari said.
The Congress leader said, "First you use the number game, misuse the office of the Governor to topple a democratically elected Government, then you mis-use the instrumentalities of the State in order to change the facts on the ground and then you claim that you are democratic."
He termed the entire Arunachal episode as "the most flagrant attempt at subverting the Constitution repeatedly ad-nauseam".
