Amid the ongoing political crisis in the state, the Rajasthan High Court yesterday gave some relief to the Ashok Gehlot government in the case challenging the merger of six BSP legislators with the ruling Congress and seeking a stay on it.
Disposing of a petition filed by Bahujan Samaj Party national secretary Satish Mishra and Bharatiya Janata Party legislator Madan Dilawar, a division bench of chief justice Inderjit Mahanti and justice Prakash Gupta said that the notice, issued earlier by a single judge bench, should be delivered to all six former BSP legislators, by tomorrow.
As the ruling party legislators are camping in a Jaisalmer hotel, it said the Jaisalmer district judge should ensure timely delivery of the notice, taking the help of the local superintendent of police.
The notice should also be published in Jaisalmer newspapers, the court said.
The BSP and the BJP leaders had approached the division bench on Tuesday, challenging the order of a single judge bench that refused to stay the functioning of the six as Congress legislators.
Contending that the single judge bench has not given them interim relief, and that the notice it had issued to the legislators concerned had not reached them as they are in Jaisalmer, they demanded that the court should, therefore, stay the merger order.
The single judge bench earlier issued notice to the speaker, the Assembly secretary and six legislators on July 30 and slated the next hearing on August 11.
Meanwhile, there have been no talks with the rebel MLAs belonging to the Sachin Pilot camp to get them back to the Congress party fold.
The party said it has “majority” numbers and can prove the same on the floor of the House.
Senior spokesperson of the Congress and special observer to Rajasthan, Ajay Maken said there was a “status quo.”.
Maken was responding to questions as he held a virtual press conference from the Jaisalmer hotel where the Gehlot camp are holed up.
The Congress leader said that the party has the numbers and is ready to prove majority, adding that even the opposition had not moved a no-confidence motion.
Although former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot along with his supporting MLAs rebelled against Gehlot, the Congress has appealed to them several times to return to the party fold.
Congress top sources said that, “if Pilot wants to return there should be no preconditions as this will set a wrong precedent.”
Ashok Gehlot
