India / Will meet President, stage protest outside PM's house if needed: Raj CM

Jaipur: A day after sit-in at the Rajasthan governor’s house, chief minister Ashok Gehlot decided to take things a notch higher by telling his legislators that he was ready to go to the Rashtrapati Bhavan, the President’s official residence at Delhi, and even the Prime Minister’s house to defeat the “BJP conspiracy”.

“We will not let the BJP conspiracy to succeed. If required will go to the Rashtrapati Bhavan and even stage dharna, if necessary, outside the PM house,” a senior leader quoted CM Gehlot saying so at the Congress legislature party meeting held this afternoon.

The announcement came shortly before the CM is expected to meet governor Kalraj Mishra to present a fresh request to convene an assembly session.

Yesterday, Gehlot and his legislators staged a sit-in on the lawns of the Raj Bhawan, demanding that the governor give the approval for convening a session of the state assembly.

Gehlot has accused the governor of stalling a decision on summoning House session, saying there was “some pressure from the top”. The CM, who wants a session on Monday, said he wants to prove his majority.

In unusual scenes, “Inquilab zindabad, Ashok Gehlot zindabad” slogans were raised by the MLAs, who were sitting on the lawns, in support of the CM.

The dharna ended after some five hours. A list of MLAs was submitted to the governor with a plea that a session be convened for the floor test to take place.

In partial relief to the Sachin Pilot camp, the Rajasthan high court ordered maintenance of status quo in the disqualification notices issued by speaker CP joshi to the group of rebel MLAs. Post this development, the CM escalated his demand for an assembly session to prove his majority in the hope to end the political uncertainty that has state in its grip for two weeks now.

At an earlier CLP meeting, the CM exhorted the legislators to stand firm like a rock as the entire nation was watching them.