Congress confident after Uttarakhand floor test

The crises facing the Congress continued in Uttarakhand where the ousted Chief Minister Harish Rawat tested his strength on the floor of the House by the raising of hands on Tuesday. President's rule in the State was suspended for an unprecedented mere 2 hours to enable the floor test. While President's rule was suspended, the assembly met without the nine rebel Congress MLAs who were not allowed to vote. Horse-trading continued with a BJP MLA saying he was backing the government. The BSP, too, said there was no deal with the BJP and its members would be backing the Rawat government. Rawat came out of the assembly and expressed confidence that his government would sail through the test. The result was not declared by the Speaker, but it would be announced by the Supreme Court on Wednesday, when the continuation of President's rule or otherwise would also be decided.