The political crisis in Rajasthan refuses to end even after weeks since Sachin Pilot declared an open revolt against CM Ashok Gehlot and the Congress leadership. On Monday, Speaker CP Joshi withdrew his petition in the Supreme Court but is likely to file another petition soon.
Rajasthan Governor Kalraj Mishra, meanwhile, has once again refused to entertain the Congress government’s appeal for a special assembly session and sent back Gehlot’s proposal with more queries.
Top developments from Rajasthan political crisis:
1. Rajasthan Governor Kalraj Mishra has returned the Gehlot government’s Cabinet note seeking an assembly session. The governor has raised a query with the Parliamentary Works Department over the proposal for assembly session. This is the second time the Governor has returned the proposal for an assembly session in the middle of the ongoing political crisis in Rajasthan.
2. Frustrated with the Governor’s stalling of the assembly session, CM Ashok Gehlot dialled Prime Minister Modi to complain about his “behaviour”. Gehlot said on Monday, “I spoke with Prime Minister yesterday and told him about the behaviour of the Governor. I spoke with him regarding the letter I had written to him seven days back.”
3. Now, the Governor has issued a statement saying the Rajasthan government should come clear on the purpose of the special assembly session they want. In a letter, the Raj Bhavan has said that the Gehlot government once says that the session is being called for a special reason and then tells the media that it is for a floor test. The Governor has asked the Gehlot government to specify its reasons for the assembly session.
4. Meanwhile, Rajasthan Assembly Speaker CP Joshi has withdrawn his petition against the high court order from the Supreme Court and has said that another petition may be filed soon over the latest high court order.
5. The Rajasthan High Court has sought to know Speaker CP Joshi’s verdict on the fate of BSP MLAs and said that the court will proceed after his reply. BSP had moved the high court over six of its MLAs merging with Congress last year which strengthened the position of the Gehlot government in Rajasthan.
6. The Rajasthan High Court has also rejected a BJP MLAs’ petition against the merger of 6 BSP MLAs with Congress. The BJP had recently raised an objection to the merger as the political crisis pushed the Gehlot government into uncertainty.
7. Three senior Congress leaders and former ministers, Kapil Sibal, Salman Khurshid and Ashwini Kumar have written a letter to Rajasthan Governor Kalraj Mishra asking him to avert a constitutional crisis in the state after he rejected the proposal to hold assembly session.
8. Amid the crisis, Congress MLAs of the Ashok Gehlot camp held a prayer meeting under the “save democracy, save Constitution” programme at the Jaipur hotel where they are holed up. Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, AICC general secretary Avinash Pande and other leaders participated in the meeting.
9. On Monday, the Governor rejected the second proposal that was sent by the Gehlot government seeking assembly session. The Governor had raised queries on the first proposal as well and Congress had sent a revised proposal, however, the second proposal has also been rejected.
10. Congress leader P Chidambaram says, “Governors appointed by the BJP since 2014 have repeatedly violated the letter and spirit of the Constitution of India. In the process, they have gravely impaired parliamentary democracy, its conventions and traditions. I may remind that there are at least three landmark judgments of the courts when the Governors concerned acted in gross violation of the Constitution in Arunachal Pradesh (2016), Uttarakhand (2016) and Karnataka (2019).”
