Rajasthan political crisis: It's CM Ashok Gehlot vs Governor Kalraj Mishra

A cat and mouse game was on in Rajasthan with Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot pushing for the convening of a state Assembly session to face a floor test, while Governor Kalraj Mishra questioned the need for it.

A Raj Bhawan communique, issued late Friday night, picked holes in Gehlot’s letter recommending convening of the Assembly, saying that it did not mention the date from which the session was to be called nor had appended the agenda for it.

Read: Amid a power tussle in Rajasthan, all eyes lay on Governor Kalraj Mishra

Mishra also questioned the need for a floor test when the government enjoyed the majority. He also asked the government on how the session would be conducted at a time when Covid-19 cases were rising.

Unprecedented scenes were witnessed at the Raj Bhawan, where Gehlot led a sit-in protest of Congress MLAs, accusing the Governor of “being pressure from the top” to reject his demand for convening a session of the Assembly.

“I told him that you must follow your conscience and uphold the dignity of the constitutional post. The people of Rajasthan are with us. If the masses surround Raj Bhawan in protest, we will not be responsible,” Gehlot said.

Follow all the latest updates on the Rajasthan political crisis here

Congress stepped up pressure on the Governor for calling a session after it failed to get a favourable ruling from the Rajasthan High Court, which ordered status quo to be maintained in the disqualification case against rebel leader Sachin Pilot and 18 other MLAs.

Rahul Gandhi also joined the call for convening of the Assembly session, accusing the BJP of conspiring to unseat the Congress government in the state.

“The Governor should convene a session of the state Assembly so that the truth comes out before the nation,” Rahul said.

Congress MLAs led by Gehlot staged a five-hour sit-in protest on the Raj Bhawan lawns to press for their demand for convening a session of the Rajasthan assembly. The protests were called off late Friday night after the Governor assured the MLAs to look into the matter and sought certain clarifications from the chief minister.

Gehlot summoned a meeting of the cabinet at 9:30 p.m. on Friday to address the doubts raised by the Governor on the proposal sent by the chief minister to summon a session of the assembly.

The protests by the Congress MLAs revived memories of a similar storming of the Raj Bhawan lawns by BJP leader Bhairon Singh Shekhawat in 1993 demanding that he be called to form the government in the state.

According to the Constitution, the Governor is bound to accept the recommendation of the Council of Ministers to convene a session of the state assembly.

Gehlot has a wafer-thin majority in the assembly after Pilot’s rebellion – 102 in the House of 200, against his claims of 109. Sachin Pilot had claimed support of 30 MLAs, but has only 18.