IT Correspondent
New Delhi, July 26:
The Congressmen are planning to “gherao’ Raj Bhavans, across the country on Monday, as a protest against Rajasthan Governor’s alleged dithering stand in convening special session of the Rajasthan legislative assembly, to resolve the political crisis.
Congress General Secretary K C Venugopal in a tweet said that the Congress workers will gherao, all Raj Bhavans across the country as a protest against Rajasthan Governor’s alleged attempt to “throttle the democracy”.
On Saturday Gehlot said that if necessary Congress MLAs will meet the President and will hold sit-in outside PM’s house. On Friday Gehlot had taken MLAs supporting him to Raj Bhavan at Jaipur. They sat on laws and staged agitations. On the occasion, Gehlot insisted that Governor Kalraj Mishra should convene the assembly session by Monday, so that he can prove the majority on the floor of the house.
However the Governor did not give consent and raised 6 points. The Guv asked if Gehlot had majority why he is required to prove it on the floor of the house ? The 21 days notice is required for convening special session of the Assembly. Besides, how the norms of social distancing will be implemented if the MLAs in large numbers attend the assembly.
But Gehlot alleged that entire conspiracy was hatched by the BJP leadership, as they did in Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh. However, they won’t succeed in Rajasthan, since MLAs and the public was with him. He alleged that the rebel MLAs were held hostage under BJP-ruled government in Haryana and claimed that they have been pleading for a rescue mission. In a thinly-veiled warning, he also said that his government should not be held responsible, if the public gherao the Raj Bhavan.
The high pilot drama began after former Rajasthan Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot and 18 other MLAs, rebelled against Gehlot. Resultantly Pilot and two of his colleagues were suspended. . Subsequently 19 MLAs were disqualified by the Speaker Dr C P Joshi after they skipped two meetings of Congress MLAs called by Gehlot.
However Pilot camp which moved the Rajasthan High Court challenging their disqualification, got relief when the court reserved its order till such time the hearing in the Supreme Court was completed. The court also ruled that a status quo be maintained on the disqualification notices given by the assembly speaker.
