Gehlot camp MLAs end dharna as Governor assures assembly session

The Congress MLAs of Rajasthan supporting Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Friday (July 24) evening ended their dharna at the Raj Bhawan in Jaipur following assurance from Governor Kalraj Mishra on calling an assembly session.

The governor has given assurance that he will abide by the Constitution and take a decision without any pressure. He will call an assembly session after clarifications on some points from the state Cabinet, said Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala.

He said the Rajasthan cabinet will meet at 9.30 pm today to discuss and clear the queries raised by the governor. “He (Mishra) gave the chief minister a note that is to be looked into… A reply will be sent to the governor today itself,” asserted Surjewala.

Gehlot has also reportedly submitted a list of 102 MLAs to Governor Mishra, who has asked him to send a fresh request for a session, reported NDTV. Gehlot has been urging Mishra to convene an assembly session so that he can prove majority in the assembly amid the crisis triggered by his sacked deputy Sachin Pilot’s rebellion along with 18 other MLAs.

Team Gehlot’s visit to Raj Bhawan on Friday came after the Rajasthan High Court provided a further reprieve to Pilot loyalist MLAs on the disqualification notices issued against them by the Speaker. Meanwhile, the Pilot camp approached the Supreme Court and requested it to hear them first before deciding on any appeal against Friday’s high court order.

Earlier in the day, as Gehlot met Mishra with a fresh request for an assembly session, MLAs supporting him staged a dharna on the lawns of the Raj Bhawan. The CM, meanwhile, told them to behave in the Gandhian way as confrontation is not desirable.

The State Congress MLAs of Gehlot camp, led by the chief minister, arrived at Raj Bhawan in buses from a hotel where they have been camping for the past few days. They began a dharna saying they will stay put till the governor summons an assembly session.

Related news: After HC setback, Gehlot shows up at Raj Bhawan with an army of MLAs

Gehlot has “requested all the MLAs to behave in the Gandhian way and we do not want any confrontation,” according to a statement issued by the CM after he met Mishra. “It has never happened in the history of the country that the governor has not given the approval to call an assembly session. The governor is bound by decisions of the cabinet,” he said.

Talking to reporters, Gehlot said that the governor’s is a constitutional post and the person holding the office has to take bold decisions. “I believe that the governor will soon take a decision and then we’ll want the session to start to discuss all kinds of issues. This is what we have decided and so we are sitting here,” Gehlot said.

He also said he hoped the governor will let the government know the reasons due to which he is not able to take a decision. After this, the government can decide what has to be done. “We have taken the initiative to call an assembly session to show our strength and the Opposition should have also welcomed it. But the opposite is happening here,” he said.

(With inputs from agencies)