New Delhi, April 29 (IANS): The central government on Wednesday refuted the claim of a former governor that the Centre tried to topple the state governments of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

The issue was raised in the Rajya Sabha by Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Naresh Agarwal, who asked whether the government had sent instructions to a former governor of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand to dismiss the respective state governments.

Raising the issue during the zero hour, the SP leader said: "The former governor of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand made a statement that the central government was pressurising him to send a proposal to dismiss both the state governments, one of Congress and the other of Samajwadi Party."

"Article 356 has always been controversial... It is serious that a former governor is saying he was asked to dismiss the governments. Is the Centre trying to rule states through proxy?" he asked.

Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, however, dismissed the claim and said it was "politically motivated".

"The issue that has been raised... the statement is far from truth and politically motivated," Naqvi said.

Aziz Qureshi, who was recently removed as the governor of Mizoram and rejoined the Congress, claimed that he received "feelers" to topple the Harish Rawat and Akhilesh Yadav governments of Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh respectively when he was serving as the governor of both these states.

Article 356 of the Constitution, which is about imposing President's rule on states, deals with the failure of the constitutional machinery of a state.

The article says that in the event that the government in a state is not able to function as per the Constitution, the state comes under the direct control of the central government, with executive authority exercised through the governor.