Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has sent a revised proposal to Governor Kalraj Mishra for convening the Assembly session from July 31 after Mishra gave his nod for convening the Assembly but with certain conditions. In its Cabinet meeting, the Gehlot Government said it was its “right” to call for the session.
Transport Minister Pratap Singh said a discussion was held for the reply to be sent regarding the three points raised by the Governor. “The Cabinet wants the Assembly session from July 31. The proposal which was sent earlier for calling the session is our legal right and we are sending it again to the Governor,” he told reporters.
“The Governor’s questions are simple and we discussed their reply. He has no right to be raising queries yet we are giving the reply,” he said.
Singh also said that the Government wants no confrontation with the Governor and hoped Mishra will now accept the Cabinet proposal for calling the session.
“We want permission to call the Assembly session which is our right. We do not want any confrontation with the Governor. If he does not accept this now, then it is clear that there is no Constitution in the country,” he said.
On the issue of 21-day notice required for calling the session, the Minister said that 10 days have already passed and asked why the Governor did not give a date if he is talking about the notice? He said that if the Governor rejects the proposals now, the further course of action will be decided. “We have no competition with the Governor, he is the head of our family,” Singh said.
Meanwhile, BJP MLA Madan Dilawar filed two writ petitions challenging the Assembly Speaker’s decision to reject his complaint against the merger of six BSP MLAs with the Congress.
The first petition was filed on Tuesday morning against a communication received from the Assembly Secretariat on Monday that the complaint has been decided and rejected by the Speaker. “Today, we got a detailed order of the Speaker (about the rejection of the complaint). Thereafter, we filed a second petition challenging the detailed order,” counsel for the MLA said, as per an agency report.
Dilawar had filed his complaint to the Speaker in March, and on July 24, he moved the High Court alleging inaction by the Speaker on the issue he raised. The Rajasthan High Court on Monday dismissed his petition as “having become infructuous” as the Speaker passed the order later on July 24.
In the fresh petitions filed on Tuesday against the Speaker’s order, the MLA has challenged the validity, legality and correctness of the Speaker’s July 24 order on his complaint filed in March. In his complaint to the Speaker, he had prayed that the BSP MLAs be disqualified from the Rajasthan Vidhan Sabha under para 2 of the 10th Schedule of the Constitution. Dilawar has alleged he was not heard by the Speaker before he decided his complaint on July 24.