Prime Minister Narendra Modi had authorised Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to assist Cabinet Secretary P K Sinha in drafting the reasons for imposing President's rule in Uttarakhand.


Eight reports from Governor Dr KK Paul were handed over to Jaitley who used his legal prowess to draft a few bullet points that were read out in the Cabinet meeting on Saturday night. A final draft was then prepared to be sent to the President by officials of the Union ministries of home and law around 11 pm on Saturday.


Prime Minister Modi, meanwhile, asked Jaitley drove to Rashtrapati Bhavan at 10.30 pm to brief the President about the Cabinet's decision to impose President's rule in Uttarakhand.


The following day, the Congress leadership was completely taken by surprise at the late-night Cabinet meeting and Pranab Mukherjee clearing the file to impose central rule.


It is now evident that the developments came as a shock to the Congress, which is reflected in the harsh words Veerappa Moily used in a TV interview, where he openly accused Mukherjee of acting as a rubber stamp of the Modi government.


The question arises: Do Rahul and Sonia Gandhi endorse what Moily said on TV? The President only goes by the rule book, and not by the whims and fancies of 10 Janpath, said Vijay Bahuguna, a dissident Congress leader.