President Approves Central Rule in Arunachal

New Delhi, Jan 26 (IANS) President Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday gave his approval to the cabinet recommendation to impose central rule in Arunachal Pradesh, official sources said.

"It's done," a Rashtrapati Bhawan official told IANS, when asked if the president had given his nod to central rule following political turbulence in the Congress-ruled northeastern state.

The union cabinet had on Sunday recommended President's Rule in Arunachal Pradesh, inviting strong criticism from the Congress and others.

The president, who had been urged by the Congress not to approve central rule in the state, is said to have discussed the Arunachal situation with Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday.

Governor Jyoti Prasad Rajkhowa had on December 9 advanced the date of the convening of the assembly session.

The move was criticized by the Congress, with its leader Kapil Sibal saying the governor should not have acted on a resolution by the Bharatiya Janata Party legislators and two independents.

On January 18, the Supreme Court said it would examine whether Rajkhowa's decision of advancing the assembly session to December 16 to take up the resolution for the removal of Speaker Nabam Rebia was valid or not.

Rebia was removed as speaker by 14 rebel Congress legislators backed by BJP legislators on December 16 at an assembly session held in a community hall in Itanagar that was presided over by the deputy speaker.

The 14 rebel Congress lawmakers were earlier disqualified by Rebia. The deputy speaker, before moving the motion removing Rebia as speaker, restored the membership of the 14 legislators.