BJP claims it has numbers, may go with Koshiyari

DEHRADUN: After the Nainital high court revoked President’s rule in Uttarakhand on Thursday, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said it will stake claim to form government in the state.

“Our party is the only strong and viable (political) alternative in the state. So, if we get an opportunity we shall prove our majority in the assembly, BJP’s state in-charge Shyam Jaju told Hindustan Times.

Jaju’s comments came amid reports that former chief minister Bhagat Singh Koshiyari and BJP’s national executive Satpal Majaraj will reach Dehradun by Thursday evening.

“There are strong chances of our party projecting Koshiyari as the chief minister,” a BJP insider said. As per an understanding among the top party leaders, Maharaj would be nominated as a Rajya Sabha member.

BJP’s national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya had separate rounds of talks with Koshiyari and Maharaj in Delhi on Wednesday.

Vijayvargiya intervened to resolve differences between the two leaders as they were staking claim for the CM’s post.

Jaju downplayed the meeting, saying the high command holds meetings with the party’s state leaders. “We will prove our majority in the House as the nine Congress rebel legislators are with us,” the BJP leader said.

The Rawat government plunged into a constitutional crisis after the nine rebel MLAs supported the BJP’s demand for a division of votes on the Money Bill on March 18.

The BJP is four MLAs short of the minimum 31 in a House of 61 legislators after speaker disqualified the nine rebel Congress legislators. BJP insiders said the party is confident of engineering another split in the Congress.

“Besides, our leadership is also banking on the support of some of the six legislators of the Progressive Democratic Front (PDF), an ally of the Congress,” a senior BJP leader told HT.