Itanagar: Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Nabam Tuki today said ministers and Congress MLAs will not attend the Assembly from tomorrow, describing the advancement of the winter session by the Governor as ‘illegal’.
“The move is intentional and politically motivated to dislodge the democratically elected Congress government in the state by the Constitutional head of the state whose prime duty is to look after the welfare of the state and its people,” Tuki alleged at a hurriedly called press conference here this evening.
Tuki claimed that till now the MLAs have not received any official communication from Assembly secretariat regarding advancement of session.
The Chief Minister said as per norms, all business of Assembly has to be routed through Department of Parliamentary Affairs which was not done in this case and the prevailing situation might lead to mistrust and conflict among the legislators.
“Since no official formalities were observed to notify the session and no member were informed officially till date, the commencement of the session is illegal and we decided not to attend it,” he said.
The Governor Jyoti Prashad Rajkhowa has now summoned the Winter Session from December 16 to 18, modifying the earlier order of summoning the Assembly from January 14 to 18.
Tuki along with his ministers met Rajkhowa this evening where he apprised the current situation arising out of the development and requested the Governor to reconsider his decision to avoid serious law and order situation.
“Despite our request, the Governor was reluctant not to cancel his order saying that he had already issued the order and it was the duty of the Assembly to implement it,” Tuki said quoting the Governor.
“Many students organisations and NGOs have also expressed resentment over the unprecedented development. The people of Arunachal Pradesh had very high expectations on appointment of Rajkhowa as the Governor but he instead of guiding the government for welfare of the people, is interfering in the business of the government,” Tuki said.
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Tuki had earlier written a letter to the Governor to withdraw his order of advancing the Winter session of the Assembly to December 16.
Asked how many members would abstain from the session, the chief minister said no Congress member of the Assembly would attend the session.
“When we are challenging the order, how can we treat it as a session when no official procedures were observed? It is illegal and uncalled for,” he said.
To a question on the possibility of invoking President’s Rule in the state, Tuki asked when there was no breakdown in the law and order situation, how President’s Rule could be invoked?
On the action being initiated on rebel Congress MLAs led by Kalikho Pul, the chief minister said the High Command had recommended for initiating disciplinary action against those leaders.
Tuki said, “We wrote to the President of India, the Prime Minister and the Union Home Minister to apprise them on the current political situation in the state and demanded immediate removal of the Governor who has already exposed his anti-Arunachal and anti-development stand.”
“Since inception of the state, for the first time such a situation has been created by the constitutional head which will leave a precedence in the entire country,” Tuki said.
The chief minister alleged that the Governor was acting at the behest of the BJP to dislodge the popularly elected government.
“We will never let it happen and will fight for justice. Almost 99 per cent of the state’s population are unhappy with the Governor and the Congress has already demanded recall of the Governor within a month. Otherwise we will launch a movement against him,” Tuki said.
He said the current political situation in the state was also raised in the Rajya Sabha today.