Gehlot with his MLAs at Governor House. The Rajasthan cabinet meets at Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot's residence to discuss the objections of Governor Kalraj Mishra in calling a special Assembly session. The meeting lasts for two and a half hours.
The Gehlot team drafted its reply and sent the letter to the Governor for the third time requesting him to call the session on July 31. It is now waiting for Raj Bhavan’s answer.
Soon after the cabinet meeting, transport minister Pratap Singh Khariyawas said that it is our legal right to call the session.
“The Governor cannot question it, yet we are answering his queries. As far as the 21 days notice is concerned, 10 days have already passed, yet the Governor has not issued any date. If the Governor does not accept our proposal this time, then it will be clear that there is no Constitution governing the nation.”
The Governor has returned the file of the state government twice which proposed to call the special Assembly session. The Gehlot government now seems to be adamant on convening the special session from July 31.
The political turmoil initially started with the Sachin Pilot vs Ashok Gehlot fight which is now turning into a Gehlot vs Governor tussle.
Earlier, the Governor on Monday rejected the proposal of the Gehlot government to call a special Assembly session and said that the session can be convened, but the government will have to give 21 days notice.
The Governor also asked the government if it wanted a vote of confidence. “If, under any circumstances, a vote of confidence motion needs to be passed, then it should be done in the presence of the Principal Secretary of the Parliamentary Affairs Department and a video recording should be done. It should also be telecast live,” he said and asked that if the assembly session is called, how will social distancing be maintained?
He asked if there was any system by which 200 members and more than 1000 officers and employees are not in danger of coronavirus infection? If someone has an infection, how will it be prevented from spreading, the Governor said.
A day after the Rajasthan High Court dismissed BJP MLA Madanlal Dilawar’s plea over merger of Rajasthan BSP with the Congress, he filed a second petition in the High Court on Tuesday.
Dilawar has challenged the Rajasthan Assembly Speaker’s decision taken on July 24 to dismiss his plea demanding disqualification of BSP MLAs under anti-defection law.
Dilawar, in his first petition, alleged that despite his complaint being submitted to the Speaker C.P. Joshi in March regarding the BSP MLAs’ defection, no action was taken by him in the last many months.
Six BSP MLAs had merged with the Congress in September 2019 and also supported it during the recent Rajya Sabha polls.
Dilawar, in March this year, submitted a complaint to the Speaker in this context which was unattended till July 24.
Around noon on Monday, Dilawar staged a sit-in at the office of the assembly secretary, P.K. Mathur. “The secretary told me that my petition had been dismissed. He told me that a detailed order will be provided on email. I am waiting for that,” Dilawar later said.
Meanwhile, the single bench of Justice Mahendra Kumar Goyal on Monday dismissed Dilawar’s petition calling it infructuous after Additional Attorney General R.P. Singh informed the court that the Speaker has already decided on the complaint on July 24. Senior lawyer Harish Salve represented Dilawar’s case.
In his petition filed in the HC on Friday, Dilawar said the Speaker declared the six BSP MLAs — Sandeep Yadav (Tijara), Wajib Ali (Nagar), Deepchand Kheria (Kisangarh Bas), Lakhan Meena (Karauli) and Rajendra Gudha (Udaipurwati) as having merged with the Congress on September 18, 2019.
Dilawar, the MLA from Ramganj Mandi constituency in Kota district, petitioned the Speaker on March 16, seeking disqualification of the BSP MLAs under the 10th schedule of the Constitution (anti-defection law).
Dilawar said, “We have taken the fresh plea in court alleging that the merger is wrong. The Speaker did not attend my petition even after 130 days. However, immediate action was taken by him on the Congress whip Mahesh Joshi who complained against 19 rebel MLAs. I gave a gentle reminder to the Speaker on July 18 to attend to my petition, however, without allowing me to represent myself, my petition was dismissed by him,” he alleged.
“While I kept demanding the copy of the order, it was not given to me but was directly presented in the High Court and on the same basis, my petition in High court was dismissed,” he added.
The decision was taken on technical ground and not on merit and hence we have approached the High Court again, Dilawar said further. (IANS)