Cong seeks to rally non-BJP parties to oppose Prez rule in Arunachal

Stung by Modi government's recommendation to impose President's rule in party-ruled Arunachal Pradesh, Congress today sought to rally round all non-BJP Chief Ministers against the move by alleging the Centre's agenda was to de-stabilize all non-BJP dispensations.

"While Congress is preparing a petition to challenge the decision in the Supreme Court, it will be better if all non-BJP Chief Ministers raise the issue", party leader Kapil Sibal told reporters.

At the AICC briefing, he also charged the government with not being interested in smooth functioning of the coming budget session of parliament and has, therefore, taken such a decision which reflected its policy of "coercive federalism".

Sibal also came down hard on the Governors with RSS background appointed by the Centre alleging that they have "trivialized the high office by acting as Pracharaks of RSS and the long arm of the union government."

He cited certain controversial statements of Governors Kesari Nath Tripathi (West Bengal), Ram Naik (Uttar Pradesh), Tathagat Roy (Tripura)), Kalyan Singh (Rajasthan), P B Acharya (Assam) and Vajubhai Vala (Karnataka) to drive home his point.

His refrain was: "the union government's agenda is to destabilize all non-BJP led governments through the office of the Governor. Arunachal Pradesh is just one such example."

Sibal, a former Law Minister and noted lawyer, insisted that the recent events in Arunachal Pradesh have demonstrated how the Governor, BJP and the central government "conspired to destabilize a democratically-elected government."

"The Prime Minister as also BJP Chief Amit Shah and RSS are all involved in this and that is why the Governor has acted."

"On the eve of Republic Day, the Modi government is celebrating the values of our Republic by using the office of the Governor to destabilize a state and then using that as an excuse to recommend President's rule.", he alleged.

The recommendation to impose President's rule in Arunachal Pradesh reflects the "intolerant mindset" of the union government. Cooperative federalism has been "thrown into the dust-bin and 'coercive federalism' is the order of the day," Sibak claimed.