Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has submitted a fresh proposal to Governor Kalraj Mishra and asked him to convene an Assembly session from July 31. But this time, the agenda, he said, is coronavirus and passage of pending Bills; there was no mention of the much hyped floor test.The government had sent a revised cabinet note late Saturday night to the Governor with answers to six of his queries. The Governor’s response is now awaited.
However, the volte-face of the evening came when the BSP issued a whip to six of its MLAs in Rajasthan Assembly, directing them to vote against the Congress if any "no confidence motion" is tabled during the session.
On Monday, the Supreme Court is expected to examine the issue of the power of Assembly speaker and whether courts can make an intervention. The High Court has said the Speaker cannot take any action against Sachin Pilot and his rebel MLAs until the larger constitutional question regarding his powers is decided by the Supreme Court.
The Congress, it is learnt, is now divided on a petition that was expected to be heard alongside -- a challenge to the Rajasthan High Court's freeze order on the disqualification proceedings against Sachin Pilot. A section of the party prefers to pursue the matter politically and the decision has been left to the party's high command.
The Congress is, meanwhile, planning a countrywide protest and said it would go to the President to foil the "BJP conspiracy". The party, however, said it will not hold a protest outside the Governor's House in Jaipur, where extra security measures are being taken.
A disqualification of the rebels before a trust vote will bring down the majority mark in the 200-member Rajasthan assembly. Gehlot claims he has the numbers, but if the mark stays at 101, his majority will be wafer-thin, leaving his government vulnerable.
The Congress has a narrow lead over the opposition and is only one past the majority mark of 101 in the 200-member Rajasthan assembly. Team Pilot claims the support of 30 MLAs, but so far, the evidence points to only 19. The BJP has 72. Including smaller parties and independent members, the opposition has 97 at the moment.
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