Rajasthan cabinet meeting to be held today at 9:30 pm, says Surjewala
Jul 24, 2020
Jaipur (Rajasthan) [India], July 24 : Rajasthan Cabinet meeting will take place on Friday at 9:30 pm, said Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala.
Addressing the media here, Surjewala said that Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot wants to prove the majority in the House, adding that "we want to convene an assembly session to fight against coronavirus and for the people of the state."
He further claimed that his party has a full majority to prove on the floor of the House.
"We want to call Assembly Session to silence those who say Congress does not have majority. The Congress majority is standing here at the Governor's house. We have a full majority. The Governor told us he will abide by the Constitution. He gave the Chief Minister a note that is to be looked into, then the Governor will have to follow Article 174 of Constitution. We believe the Governor. A state cabinet meeting will be held today at 9:30 pm, the note will be looked into and a reply will be sent to the Governor today itself," Surjewala further said.
Meanwhile, Congress MLAs from Gehlot-led camp have left the Raj Bhawan where they sat in protest and raised slogans to convene the Assembly Session.
Earlier in the day, Gehlot said that he hopes that the Governor will not come under "any pressure" and that an Assembly session shall be called soon.
"I am sure that Governor will not come under any pressure and he will make a decision on Assembly session soon. We hope the session begins soon and various issues can be discussed," he said.
Calling the Governor a 'constitutional head', the Chief Minister said: "I do not hesitate to say that he couldn't have stopped the decision of calling (Assembly Session) without some pressure from the top. I have requested if he has any queries then it could have been solved. Why did he not decide yesterday? We have requested him again to make a decision soon. People are waiting."
The Chief Minister met the Governor on Friday afternoon over the issue of the convening of the Assembly session.
Chief Minister Gehlot, earlier, alleged that colleagues, apparently referring to Congress MLAs from the Sachin Pilot camp, have been held hostages in Haryana under the BJP's supervision.
"Some of our colleagues have been kept as hostages in Haryana under BJP's supervision. Everybody knows that. It may be possible they don't want to be there. They are our own colleagues," he had said at a press conference.
Rajasthan plunged into a political crisis as differences between Pilot and Gehlot came out in the open.
Later, Rajasthan Assembly Speaker CP Joshi sent disqualification notices to Pilot and 18 MLAs under the anti-defection law after the chief whip's application for their disqualification.
The MLAs were earlier asked to present before the Assembly Speaker on July 17, but the same was deferred in view of the hearing before the High Court.
Pilot and the 18 MLAs have approached the Rajasthan High Court against the disqualification notices issued against them.
The High Court had asked Speaker Joshi to defer the proceedings pending before him on the disqualification notices issued to Pilot and the MLAs of his faction and put off the verdict on the matter till July 24.