Rajasthan Governor gets revised proposal and a #GetWellSoon message

In another development in politically-volatile Rajasthan, the Congress on Tuesday (July 28) launched an online #GetWellSoonGovernor campaign, hours after the Gehlot government sent Governor Kalraj Mishra a revised proposal for an assembly session from July 31. But the proposal didn’t mention if the party would seek a trust vote.

Sources said that the state cabinet took the stand after discussing suggestions made by the governor when he returned a proposal from the state government to summon an assembly session. Amid nationwide protests by Congress workers over Mishra’s apparent reluctance to call a session, the governor had on Monday said he had no such intention.

But he sought a redrafted proposal, the second time in the past few days, including three points – a 21-day notice for calling a session, live broadcast of the proceedings if there is a trust vote, and social distancing. He had written a session can be called at a short notice if the government says in its new proposal that it planned to seek a vote of confidence.

But sources said the Gehlot government has not mentioned, in its new proposal, whether it is seeking a vote of confidence during the assembly session, which it is still insisting should begin on July 31, the date it gave in its last recommendation.

This is the third time Ashok Gehlot government has sent a proposal to the governor asking for an assembly session, amid the crisis the Congress faces in the state after a rebellion by the state’s sacked deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot and 18 other dissident MLAs.

The Congress has alleged that the Mishra is acting “under pressure” from the Centre. The party has, meanwhile, started an online campaign #GetWellSoonGovernor as it urged the governor to come out of his “oppressive thinking”.

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AICC general secretary Avinash Pande, in a series of tweets, accused Mishra of “bias” and “oppressive thinking” and wished that he recovers from it soon. “The political developments in Rajasthan reflect that our Governor is also influenced by the oppressive thinking of the BJP, and he does not seem healthy with his biased thinking,” he tweeted with the hashtag #GetWellSoonGovernor.

In another tweet, Pande said, “It is my appeal that the Governor may recover from the infection of biased thinking so that he can give his consent to convene an immediate assembly session to protect the Constitution and democracy without any partiality.”

This is the second online campaign started by the Congress amid the current crisis. The party had on Sunday carried out the “Speak Up For Democracy” campaign that sought to “expose” what it called the the saffron party’s “designs” to topple the Gehlot dispensation in Rajasthan and other state governments run by non-BJP parties.

Related news: Gehlot cabinet meets to ruminate on governor’s questions

Meanwhile, the Congress is also battling the Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) that moved the Rajasthan High Court on Tuesday, seeking to become a party in the plea by BJP against the merger of six BSP MLAs in the state with Congress party.

BSP president Mayawati said that her party decided to “teach a lesson” to the Congress and Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot for the “unconstitutional” merger of its MLAs in the state by moving the high court. She said the BSP had been waiting for the “right time” to hit back at the Congress for the merger.

Besides, BJP MLA Madan Dilawar on Tuesday filed two writ petitions in the HC, challenging the assembly Speaker’s decision to reject his complaint against the merger of six BSP MLAs with the Congress. The first plea was filed this morning against a communication received from the assembly secretariat on Monday that the complaint has been decided and rejected by the Speaker, the counsel for Dilawar said.

(With inputs from agencies)