President's rule imposed in Arunachal 'under pressure': NCP

The party expressed its surprise as to why President Mukherjee gave his nod to the Centre's recommendation within a span of few hours

The National Communist Party (NCP) on Wednesday said President Pranab Mukherjee approved the imposition of central rule in Arunachal Pradesh under pressure from the BJP-led NDA and alleged that extreme situations to throw out a democratically elected government did not exist in the state.

NCP leader Majeed Memon expressed his surprise as to why President Mukherjee gave his nod to the Centre's recommendation within a span of few hours.

"The President had expressed his views in the morning yesterday asking the Centre as to what was the hurry. But in a matter of few hours, he put his seal of approval which only suggests that probably there was some pressure which is not in the interest of the constitutional values," he said.

Memon asserted it was shocking that this onslaught on the Constitution took place on a day when the Constitution of India came into force.

"It is in very rare and exceptional cases that the President's rule is being imposed and a democratically elected government is to be thrown out. It is only in extreme situations and probably those extreme situations did not exist in Arunachal," he said.

"For the past one month, we have been seeing the activities of the Governor and with all respect, I must say that the Governor was acting in a biased manner and in an anti-Congress manner.Horse trading has been going on without impunity and Article 356 has been imposed without proper justification," he added.

President Mukherjee yesterday gave his assent to the Union Cabinet's recommendation for imposition of President's rule in Arunachal after being satisfied that the law and order in the border state was sensitive.

The decision came right after he hosted the 'At Home' at Rashtrapati Bhavan for French President Francois Hollande as part of the 67th Republic Day celebrations.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has appointed two retired civil servants G S Patnaik and Y S Dadwal as advisors to Arunachal Pradesh Governor Jyoti Prasad Rajkhowa.

Arunchal plunged into a political crisis in June last year after a section of the Congress MLAs (14 of them) was suspended by Speaker Nadam Rebia, along with two ministers.

The Congress retained its majority, but very soon Deputy Speaker T.N. Thongdok cleared an impeachment motion against the Speaker 'owing to his personal relation with (then) Chief Minister Nabam Tuki'.

The Congress, which is determined to stall the ratification of President's rule in the state, is mulling both legal and political options to fight the same. The decision in this regard was taken at a meeting yesterday.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court will hear the Congress' plea challenging the Cabinet's decision at 2 p.m today.