Congress wins floor test, says it ’celebration of democracy’

Mangalore Today/ ANI

New Delhi, May 10 (ANI): With the three-month long political tussle over the throne of Uttarakhand apparently coming to an end, the Congress today branded the win in the floor test as a ‘victory for democracy’ while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), in an attempt to salvage pride, described it as ’moral victory’.

Senior lawyer and Congress leader Kapil Sibal accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah of trying to ’finish’ democracy in the country.

 

“It’s not a victory either for the Congress or the BJP, it’s victory for the democracy. Both Modi and Amit Shah and their legal advisors have been trying to finish democracy. Today’s verdict is a celebration of democracy. We are trying to protect democracy while they are trying to destroy it,” he told ANI.

Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad echoing similar sentiments said democracy has won in the hill state.

“The BJP has been trying to destroy democracy, they started this from Arunachal Pradesh,” he said.

Congress leader Rajiv Shukla on his part taunted the BJP-led Centre and said those trying to topple duly elected governments in the country have been defeated.

Meanwhile, the BJP claimed that the Congress managed to grab majority of votes in the confidence motion through the sheer power of money.

“Given the way the Congress used its sheer force to garner majority, the BJP did have a moral victory but failed in terms of numbers. But the nation saw how they used money to sway people over to their side to garner majority, that is why we fell short of numbers,” BJP leader Ganesh Joshi told ANI.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal earlier today said the BJP’s defeat in the Uttarakhand floor test has come as a huge setback to Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led NDA.

Congress leader Indira Hridayesh earlier told ANI about the details of what happened during the floor test and asserted of a positive outcome for the party.

“We reached early and took out seats. We had been instructed earlier that those who vote in favour will sit on the right and those against on the left. After being seated the Speaker read the entire procedure and then began calling out names of the candidates who raised their hands indicating their motion. 33 of our candidates cast their votes in the motion,” she said.

Adding that the result of the floor test was a clear message to the nation and political parties, she asserted that the BJP could not have been given a more smashing reply as they had openly indulged in murdering democracy and putting the development of Uttarakhand on a standstill.

The proceedings of the floor test were video-graphed and the results of the voting will be placed before the Supreme Court tomorrow in a sealed cover.