rajasthan crisis

Rajasthan crisis: HC ruling keeps Pilot on roster, Gehlot camp’s dharna makes Governor cave

by

In never-ending twists in the Rajasthan political saga, Sachin Pilot and group of rebel MLAs received a reprieve from the Rajasthan High Court which ruled that status quo be maintained in the state as far as disqualification is concerned.

Soon after the Rajasthan HC ruling, focus quickly shifted to Raj Bhawan as Congress MLAs landed there from the hotel where they are holed up.

CM Ashok Gehlot and his loyalist MLAs camped outside the Rajasthan Governor’s house for over five hours demanding that an assembly session be called.

Here is all that happened in the Rajasthan political crisis on Friday:

RAJASTHAN HC VERDICT DELIVERS RELIEF FOR PILOT CAMP

The Rajasthan High Court ordered that status quo should be maintained on the disqualification notices sent out by the Speaker, delivering a small victory to Sachin Pilot and 18 other Congress MLAs who wanted them quashed.

Before giving a ruling on the Pilot camp’s petition, Chief Justice Indrajit Mahanty and Justice Prakash Gupta allowed its application for including the Union government in the list of respondents.

This means that the dissidents will hold on to the membership of the state assembly till there is a court ruling in the matter that is now also before the Supreme Court.

The High Court order basically means that the matter now lies with the Supreme Court, which is scheduled to hear the Special Leave Petition (SLP) filed in the case by Rajasthan Assembly Speaker CP Joshi on Monday.

CONGRESS HEADS TO RAJ BHAWAN, BUILDS PRESSURE ON SPEAKER

After the HC verdict was announced, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot along with his supporting MLAs arrived at Governor Kalraj Mishra’s residence (Raj Bhawan) in four buses from the Fairmont Hotel on the outskirts of Jaipur where they have been camping for the past few days.

Before heading for the Raj Bhawan, Gehlot said he had requested the Governor on Thursday to call the session on Monday, but there had been no word from the Raj Bhawan.

Congress MLAs along with CM Ashok Gehlot heading for the Raj Bhawan. (Photo: PTI)

Gehlot had earlier accused Governor Kalraj Mishra of sitting on a recommendation from the Cabinet to call the session while the Congress MLAs wanted to attend a sitting and “establish” that they are in majority.

He also claimed that the Governor is facing pressure “from above” to stall the assembly from the meeting, hinting at the alleged involvement of the BJP government at the Centre in the tussle for power in the state.

The Rajasthan CM said if people `gherao’ the Raj Bhawan over the issue the MLAs “will not be responsible”.

BJP DEMANDS CRPF PROTECTION FOR GOVERNOR

Ashok Gehlot’s “gherao” remark prompted the BJP to demand that the Centre should deploy the CRPF.

Rajasthan Leader of Opposition and former Home Minister, Gulab Chand Kataria, while speaking with India Today, mentioned, “Given the threat by Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot to gherao Raj Bhavan and the scenes witnessed at the Governor House, we demand deployment of the CRPF.”

“It should not trust the Rajasthan police,” Leader of Opposition Gulab Chand Kataria said.

The BJP state president Satish Poonia said the situation in Rajasthan is “unprecedented”. He said that Congress is responsible for the situation and is blaming the BJP for it.

CONGRESS BEGINS DHARNA AT RAJ BHAWAN, DEMANDS ASSEMBLY SESSION

At the Raj Bhawan, Ashok Gehlot met the Governor inside while the MLAs remained on the lawns, squatting on the grass and at times raising slogans. Kalraj Mishra came out on the lawns to meet them.

Two hours later, Transport Minister Pratap Singh Khachariyawas said a sit-in had begun.

“The governor is working on the directions of the Centre. We will sit here till the session date is given to us,” he said. He claimed there were 103 MLAs at the Raj Bhawan.

Bhajans like “Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram” and songs like “Hum Honge Kamyaab” were heard at the dharna staged by Congress MLAs at the Raj Bhawan.

PTI24 07 2020 000139A

Rajasthan Governor Kalraj Mishra meeting CM Ashok Gehlot and protesting Congress MLAs outside Raj Bhawan. (Photo: PTI)

Meanwhile, Ashok Gehlot urged Congress MLAs sitting on a ‘dharna’ at the Raj Bhawan here to behave in the Gandhian way as confrontation is not desirable.

GOVERNOR RELENTS, MLAS CALL OFF STIR

After five hours of staging a protest at the Raj Bhavan, Congress said it ended the sit-in following an assurance from the Governor that he will abide by Article 174 of the Constitution, after getting some clarifications from the CM. The provision deals with the Governor’s role in summoning a session of the assembly.

The note from Governor Kalraj Mishra included a query on why the government wants the session summoned for a vote of confidence when it says it has a majority.

AICC spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said the queries will be taken care at a state Cabinet meeting scheduled later in the might.

Later in the evening, a cabinet meeting was called at the CM’s residence in Jaipur where the Governor’s queries were expected to be answered. The meeting was still on at the time of publishing this copy.

RAHUL GANDHI SPEAKS OUT ON RAJASTHAN CRISIS

Alleging that there was a clear “BJP conspiracy” to topple the Ashok Gehlot government in Rajasthan, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said the governor must convene an assembly session so that the truth comes out before the country.

“The country is ruled by the Constitution and law. The governments are made and run by the mandate of the people,” the former Congress chief said in a tweet.

“The BJP conspiracy to topple the Rajasthan government is clear. This is an insult to the eight crore people of Rajasthan,” Gandhi said.

The governor should convene a session of the Legislative Assembly so that the truth comes out before the country, he tweeted with the hashtag ‘Arrogant BJP’.

IN MANESAR OF OWN WILL: PILOT CAMP MLAS

Three dissident MLAs of Sachin Pilot’s camp on Friday dismissed the allegations that they are being held hostage in Haryana.

The MLAs junked the accusation in a video, saying they are accompanying Pilot on their own.

“Some people sitting in Jaipur are alleging that we have been held hostage but I want to say that we came here voluntarily. No party has held us hostage. We were with Sachin Pilot and will remain with him,” MLA Vedprakash Solanki said.

Another legislator Murari Lal Meena said he was disappointed at Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot’s functioning and therefore they have come to Delhi.

“I want to make it clear that neither we have been held hostage nor we have bouncers sitting with us. We are neither sick nor shedding tears either,” MLA Suresh Modi said.

POLITICAL GAME IN RAJASTHAN: WHAT HAS HAPPENED SO FAR

The Congress has 107 MLAs in the 200-member Rajasthan House and the BJP 72.

The Congress tally includes six Bahujan Samaj Party MLAs who merged as a group with the ruling party after the 2018 assembly polls, lending stability to the Gehlot government.

The Congress had sought action against the 19 dissidents including Sachin Pilot under paragraph 2 (1) (a) of the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution.

The provision disqualifies MLAs if they “voluntarily” give up membership of the party which they represent in the House. The Gehlot camp argues that the dissidents’ actions amounted to that.

The dissidents claim that a party whip, which they ignored by skipping two Congress Legislature Party meetings, applies only when the assembly is in session. They say they are not joining the BJP but are only challenging the party’s leadership in Rajasthan.

On the other hand, sources informed India Today that members of the Gehlot camp want an assembly session to be called soon in a bid to tide over the present political crisis in the state and an assembly session can be called next week itself.

The Rajasthan government led by Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot feels that if a short assembly session is called for, then they can go in for a show of strength at the Assembly where the rebel MLAs from Sachin Pilot group can be pressurized to participate.

If a whip is issued by the Chief Whip and the rebels don’t show up for the assembly session, then that can be ground for their disqualification.

The Gehlot camp also feels that if the rebel MLAs return to Jaipur for a short assembly session then atleast some of them can be persuaded to return to the Gehlot camp.

Pilot was sacked as the deputy chief minister and the president of the Congress state unit after he rebelled against Gehlot.

The rift between the two goes back to the last assembly polls after which the party picked Gehlot for the chief minister’s post, ignoring Pilot’s claim.





Source link

Leave a comment