Rajasthan HC to hear Pilot camp's plea challenging disqualification notice

Two days after Rajasthan Assembly Speaker CP Joshi issued notices to former Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot and 18 other rebel Congress MLAs, the Rajasthan High Court is set to hear on Thursday (July 16) afternoon a petition filed on behalf of the Pilot camp, challenging the move to disqualify dissident MLAs from the Assembly.

Justice Satish Chandra Sharma will hear the plea against the disqualification notices sent by the Speaker’s office after the Congress complained that the MLAs had defied a party whip to attend two Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meetings. The move came hours after Pilot was also removed from the post of Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee president.

Later, Pilot’s loyalists Vishvendra Singh and Ramesh Meena were also removed from the state cabinet. But the Congress has reiterated that the party had not closed its doors on him. “…May God give him (Pilot) good sense and he realises his mistake. I pray that he comes out of the BJPs illusory trap,” Avinash Pande, the AICC in-charge of Rajasthan, said in a tweet.

Pilot. who along with his loyalists, had skipped the first CLP meeting held at Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot’s house on Monday (July 13) despite being invited to attend it, was once again invited by Pande to attend the Tuesday (July 14) meeting. The 18 other Congress MLAs had also not attended Monday’s meeting, according to sources.