Cong MLAs on indefinite dharna at Raj Bhawan demanding Rajasthan Assembly session

Jaipur: Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot on Friday said that he was confident that Governor Kalraj Mishra would not come under any political pressure and would be able to take an independent decision on the assembly session. He also indicated that Congress MLAs would continue to protest in all district headquarters tomorrow against the BJP’s attempts at toppling the government.

“The Governor is our constitutional head. I don’t hesitate to say that he couldn’t have stopped the Assembly session without pressure from the top. Why did he not decide yesterday? We’ve requested him again to make a decision soon. People are waiting,” Gehlot told reporters after meeting the Rajasthan Governor earlier this afternoon.

“I am sure that the Governor will not come under any pressure, he will make a decision. We hope the Assembly session begins soon. So we are sitting here in protest. After he gives us a letter we will decide on the future course of action,” the Rajasthan chief minister said.

Legally and according to the Constitution, the Rajasthan Governor has no other choice but to accept the recommendation of the Chief Minister and his Cabinet to convene the Assembly session soon. He is duty-bound to follow the advice of the Rajasthan Cabinet.

Amid intense political turmoil in the state, Gehlot has obliquely accused Mishra of being under pressure of deferring the Assembly session.

Earlier on Friday, Gehlot accompanied by Congress legislators supporting him visited Governor Kalraj Mishra to urge him to convene the Rajasthan assembly by Monday and let him face a floor test. Gehlot’s meeting with the governor came minutes after he accused Raj Bhavan of holding back orders to convene the assembly by Monday to let him prove his majority in the 200-member Rajasthan assembly.

At the Governor’s House, the Chief Minister and about 100 Congress MLAs sat on protest and refused to move for a long time until the Governor made a specific announcement.

Gehlot has been stressing the need for an assembly session to discuss the coronavirus pandemic and the political situation in the state, which has been continuing for over two weeks now.

The development came after the Rajasthan high court ordered status quo to be maintained in the disqualification case against rebel Congress leader Sachin Pilot and 18 other dissident MLAs, who are camping in the national capital region.

Gehlot and his erstwhile deputy, rebel leader Sachin Pilot have been locked in a bitter power struggle with the chief minister accusing Pilot and his supporters of conspiring with the BJP to topple his government and poach Congress legislators.