Jaitley blames Rawat despite U’khand floor test debacle

New Delhi : Despite the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) facing a humiliating defeat in the Uttarakhand floor test, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said that it was not a damage, adding the root cause behind the political crisis in the hill state was the March 18 incident.

“I don’t consider Uttarakhand as damage. If you look with honesty, you will find that the root of Uttarakhand crisis lies in the March 18 incident,” he said in an exclusive interview to ETV head Jagdish Chandra.

“On March 18, 36 people out of 67 voted against the budget. The budget and the Appropriation Bill were defeated and the state government should have resigned. Then they say that there should be a floor test. Was March 18 incident not a floor test? There was a division demanded and the Speaker denied counting the votes,” he added.

He also attacked the Harish Rawat-led state government for blaming the Centre for not allowing the floor test to take place earlier.

“Today, they are praising the floor test and blaming that the Centre had not allowed for it before. But the fact is that March 18 incident was a floor test. Nine of the MLAs were disqualified because they voted against the budget. And then they are saying that it was the Speaker, who gave a wrong ruling,” he said.

The Centre on May 11 revoked President’s rule from Uttarakhand after Chief Minister Harish Rawat proved his majority on the floor of the House. The Congress won by a margin of 33-28 in the floor test that took place on May 10.

The nine Congress rebels were barred from voting in the 71-member assembly. (ANI)