New Delhi, Mar 20 (Agencies) : As the Harish Rawat-led Congress government is battling for survival in Uttarakhand, Rahul Gandhi has accused the BJP of using money power to sabotage his party's rule.
Rahul Gandhi took to Twitter today to launch a biting attack on the BJP and said,"Toppling elected governments by indulging in horse trading and blatant misuse of money and muscle, seems to be BJP's new model, after failure in Bihar."
"This attack on our democracy and Constitution, first in Arunachal and now in Uttarakhand, is the true face of Modiji's BJP," Rahul Gandhi said in a series of tweets.
"Congress Party will fight demagoguery with democracy," he added further.
Meanwhile, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that the Uttarakhand crisis should not be attributed to the BJP as there were deep division within the Congress in state.
Speaking to reporters in New Delhi, Jaitley said that a majority of MLAs voted against the controversial finance bill but the Speaker declared it passed. "In Uttarakhand, Speaker considered a failed bill as passed. This is happening for the first time in the country," he said, adding, "If you make one CM, the other gets annoyed."
Yesterday, Uttarakhand Governor wrote to Chief Minister Harish Rawat to prove majority in the Assembly before March 28. The Congress government in the state is under threat with 9 MLAs rebelling against Rawat and the BJP, which has 27 MLAs, staking claim to form the government.
The 9 rebel MLAs include former Chief Minister Vijay Bahugana and cabinet minister Harak Singh Rawat, who was expelled from the cabinet on Saturday evening. "Harak Singh's conduct is against the party," Rawat told reporters on Saturday evening after a Cabinet meeting.
In the 70-member Uttarakhand Assembly, Rawat has a thin majority. While the Congress has 36 MLAs, the BJP has 28. The Congress government is heavily dependent on independent MLAs for stability of its government.
'Look Within' says BJP
DEHRADUN, NEW DELHI, Mar 20 : As Uttarakhand speaker issued showcause notice to nine rebel Congress lawmakers, Union minister Arun Jaitley said the crisis should not be attributed to the BJP.
A crisis hit Uttarakhand's Harish Rawat-led Congress government after nine Congress lawmakers sided with the BJP in the assembly to demand a division of votes on the finance bill. When the BJP sought the government's dismissal and staked claim to form the government, the Congress lawmakers had even gone to meet the Governor.
"There is a deep division in the Congress in Uttarakhand... it should not be attributed to the BJP," Mr Jaitley said while addressing the media today during the Day 2 of the BJP's national executive meet.
The Congress had earlier accused the BJP of engineering the split and today, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi tweeted: