Rajasthan turmoil: Have written to Prez, spoken with PM on current political situation, says Gehlot

18:35 July 27

BSP leader Bhawani Singh Baba says that a separate petition will be filed at the party level to bring back MLAs into the party.

18:25 July 27

All 6 BSP MLAs have joined the Congress party as per the laws that imply in case a person wishes to switch parties, says Rajasthan transport minister Pratap Singh Khachariyawas, accuses BJP of trying to topple governments in Congress-ruled states.

18:24 July 27

Have written to Prez, spoken with PM on current political situation in Rajasthan: CM to Cong MLAs

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has written to President Ram Nath Kovind and spoken with Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the current political situation in the state.

Gehlot had also written a letter to the prime minister on the matter a few days ago.

The chief minister told that he has spoken to the prime minister and apprised him of the current political situation in the state, a Congress leader said after a meeting at a hotel where MLAs are holed up following rebellion by Sachin Pilot against the Gehlot government.

Pilot has been stripped of his position as deputy chief minister and Rajasthan Congress chief.

The chief minister addressed MLAs at the meeting after a Prarthna Sabha. The meeting was attended by senior Congress leaders also.

16:18 July 27

Anguished by Governor's attitude: Chidambaram

"The Governor is only a formal instrument to sign & issue summons to the MLAs. If a Chief Minister who is accused of not enjoying a majority wants to prove his majority, is entitled to call a session at the earliest to prove his majority," Congress leader P Chidambaram said.

He further said, "We're astonished & anguished by the attitude of the Governor of Rajasthan. We're therefore protesting today before all Raj Bhawans in the country to highlight the gravity of the issue & draw people's attention to violations of the Constitution."

16:12 July 27

Session can be summoned, give 21-day notice: Rajasthan Governor to Cabinet

Rajasthan Governor Kalraj Mishra on Monday agreed to summon a session of the state assembly provided the government gives a 21-day notice.

The condition is part of three suggestions the Governor has made while returning Ashok Gehlot Cabinet's recommendation that he should call a session of the Vidhan Sabha.

This was the second time that Mishra has returned a Cabinet proposal on convening the assembly, amid the power tussle in Rajasthan.

Mishra also wrote that the state government should undertake to broadcast live the proceedings of a floor test, if it takes place.

It should also ensure precautions during the proposed Vidhan Sabha sitting against the spread of coronavirus, his note said.

15:33 July 27

Rajasthan Governor Kalraj Mishra orders State Government to call for an Assembly Session. Not convening the Assembly was never the intention: Raj Bhawan, Rajasthan

14:10 July 27

Rajasthan HC dismisses plea against Congress-BSP MLAs merger

In a relief for Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot-led government, the Rajasthan High Court on Monday dismissed a petition filed by a BJP MLA challenging the merger of six BSP MLAs with the Congress party in the state.

The High Court had earlier today asked Additional Advocate General RP Singh, appearing for the state government, to seek all information from the Assembly Speaker regarding the petition.

BJP MLA Madan Dilawar had moved a petition in the High Court seeking directions to quash the merger of six BSP MLAs with the Congress party, which had helped the ruling party in retaining a majority in the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly.

The petition had also challenged the Speaker's inaction in not deciding on his plea seeking disqualification of the six MLAs from the Assembly.

Meanwhile, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) had also moved the High Court seeking to become a party in the petition by BJP against the merger.

Notably, Dilawar today sat on a protest in the office of the Vidhan Sabha Secretary demanding a copy of the order given by Rajasthan Speaker on the merger of six BSP MLAs with Congress. 

14:07 July 27

Petition filed in Rajasthan HC to remove Governor Kalraj Mishra

14:06 July 27

3 of 19 MLAs Will Return Within 48 Hrs

"3 out of 19 MLAs of Sachin Pilot camp sitting in Haryana will return within 48 hours," Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said.  

13:50 July 27

Spoke to PM Modi About Governor's Conduct

"I spoke with Prime Minister yesterday and told him about the behaviour of the Governor. I spoke with him regarding the letter I had written to him seven days back," Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said. 

13:17 July 27

Rajasthan Chief Minister posted a video on Twitter in which Congress MLAs are protesting against BJP at Hotel Fairmont in Jaipur. 

13:12 July 27

Congress leaders write letter to Governor

Congress' Salman Khurshid, Ashwani Kr & Kapil Sibal write to Rajasthan Guv over proposal to convene Assembly Session.

Letter reads 'Any deviation from the constitutional position in current circumstances would be an avoidable negation of your office & create a constitutional crisis.'

12:13 July 27

Congress leaders stage protest at Hotel Fairmont

Congress leaders stage protest at Hotel Fairmont

12:12 July 27

Congress leaders, including UP Congress chief Ajay Kumar Lallu & AICC Gen Secretary in-charge of Chhattisgarh, PL Punia, detained, while protesting in front of the Raj Bhavan. 

Congress is holding a nationwide protest under the campaign 'Speak Up for Democracy'

12:02 July 27

BSP moves Rajasthan HC

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) moves Rajasthan High Court seeking to become a party in the petition by BJP against the merger of six BSP MLAs in the state with Congress party.

11:59 July 27

Rajasthan Governor Kalraj Mishra seeks clarification from the state govt over the proposal on the convening of the Assembly Session, asks "Do you want to move Motion of Confidence? It's not mentioned in the proposal but you've been speaking about it in media."

"It will be difficult to call all the MLAs for the Assembly Session in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic. Can you consider giving a 21-day notice over the convening of Assembly Session?"

11:58 July 27

BJP MLA Dilawar stages 'Dharna' inside Assembly

BJP MLA Dilawar stages 'Dharna' inside Assembly 

 BJP MLA Dilawar stages 'dharna' inside the Assembly, blaming the Speaker for not giving a copy of its order on the BSP MLAs.

11:44 July 27

Cong leaders detained by police while trying to march towards LG office

 Congress leaders, including its Delhi unit chief Anil Kumar, were detained while trying to march to the Lieutenant Governor's office in Civil Lines here, in a protest against the BJP's alleged move to topple the Rajasthan government.

The protest was held against the "anti-democratic and anti-constitutional" actions of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to topple the democratically-elected Congress government in Rajasthan, Kumar said.

"We wanted to tell the LG how the BJP and its government at the Centre are murdering democracy in Rajasthan. But the Delhi Police detained us before we could start our march to the Raj Niwas," he said.

Congress leaders and workers had gathered near the Ludlow Castle school in Civil Lines. They were detained by the police at the spot and taken to the Maurice Nagar police station, a leader of the party's Delhi unit, who was present at the protest site, said.

11:25 July 27

Congress workers and leaders, including state Congress chief KS Alagiri, protest near Governor's office in Chennai under their nationwide 'Save Democracy and Save Constitution' campaign.

11:09 July 27

Supreme Court allows the Speaker to withdraw plea

Supreme Court allows the Speaker to withdraw plea

The Supreme Court on Monday allowed the Rajasthan Assembly Speaker to withdraw his appeal against the high court's order asking him to defer till July 24 the disqualification proceedings against sacked deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot and 18 dissident Congress MLAs.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Speaker C P Joshi, told a bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra that the Rajasthan High Court had passed a fresh order on July 24 and they were weighing the legal options.

While withdrawing the plea, Sibal told the bench that the appeal had become infructuous as the apex court did not stay the earlier high court order passed on July 21 asking the Speaker to defer disqualification proceedings.

"The SLP (special leave petition) is withdrawn with liberty to file a fresh SLP and keeping all grounds open," advocate Sunil Fernandes, who also represents Joshi, said.

The high court had ordered on July 24 maintenance of status quo on the disqualification notice issued by the Speaker to 19 dissident Congress MLAs, including Pilot.

11:01 July 27

BSP to file petition on legislators' merger with Congress is also in Rajasthan High Court

BSP state president Bhagwan Singh Baba reaches the High Court and says, their merger is completely unconstitutional and a petition is being filed against them in the High Court.

"The six MLAs had won the election on BSP tickets. CM Ashok Gehlot merged all of them with Congress. This is not the first time it happened in Rajasthan, it had happened in 2008 too, "Bhagwan Singh Baba, BSP’s Rajasthan chief on party's whip to all its six MLAs in the state.

10:50 July 27

Rajasthan HC to Hear BJP MLA's Plea Challenging BSP-Cong merger

BJP MLA Madan Dilawar's petition will be heard in Rajasthan High Court today.  

He challenged the merger of 6 MLAs of Bahujan Samaj Party with Congress. The petition said that BSP is a national party and the merger of MLAs cannot be done separately in Congress without merging the parties. 

10:29 July 27

No decision yet on convening Rajasthan assembly session

Rajasthan Raj Bhawan returned the files related to the convening of the Assembly session to the parliamentary affairs department of the state, said sources on Monday.

According to sources, no decision has been taken yet on the Assembly session.

"Rajasthan Raj Bhawan returned the files related to the convening of the Assembly session to the parliamentary affairs department of the state. The Raj Bhawan also sought some additional details from the state government. No decision has been taken yet on the Assembly session," sources said. 

The power struggle in Rajasthan had taken a new turn when the Governor had not heeded the request of the Congress government to convene a session of the state Assembly urgently.

Earlier, Rajasthan Governor's Secretariat had said that the state government had presented a proposal to convene the session of the Assembly at very short notice on the night of July 23. The paper was analysed and legal experts were consulted over it, it said.

10:07 July 27

BSP-Congress merger is unconstitutional

BSP General-Secretary SC Misra wrote to Governor & Assembly Speaker that alleged merger of BSP-Congress is unconstitutional. The petition is pending before High Court too, Satish Poonia, Rajasthan BJP chief Satish Pooniaon BSP's whip to all its Rajasthan MLAs to vote against Congress in floor test. 

10:01 July 27

Rajasthan Raj Bhawan returns the files related to the convening of the Assembly Session, to Parliamentary Affairs Department of the state. 

Raj Bhawan also seeks some additional details from the state govt. 

No decision has been taken yet on the Assembly Session. 

10:00 July 27

Supreme Court to hear Rajasthan speaker's plea against HC order today

Supreme Court will hear the Special Leave Petition of Rajasthan speaker CP Joshi on Monday against the rebel MLAs led by now-sacked deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot who engineered a revolt against the Ashok Gehlot government.

The court is scheduled to hear the matter at 11 am.SC on Thursday had said that the Rajasthan High Court can pass an order on former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot and other MLA's plea against disqualification notice issued against them by the State Assembly Speaker. The verdict on the matter was put off till July 27.

The bench led by Justice Arun Mishra heard an SLP filed by the Rajasthan Assembly Speaker CP Joshi, who had challenged the HC's order contending that it has no jurisdiction to interfere at the stage prior to disqualification, the court can interfere when the MLAs are qualified.

09:56 July 27

Rajasthan turmoil: HC dismisses petition filed by BJP against merger of six BSP MLAs with Congress

Jaipur:The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has issued a whip to six Rajasthan assembly MLAs, who had announced a merger with the ruling Congress party last year, to vote against the Ashok Gehlot government in any proceedings of the house including the "no-confidence motion".

Reportedly, Rajendra Gudha, Lakhan Meena, Deepchand Kheria, Sandeep Yadav, JS Awana, and Wajib Ali had last year declared to have merged with the Congress after winning state polls as BSP candidates.

The official communication from the BSP says that the above MLAs have been notified that they are bound to follow the whip of the BSP failing which they would invite disqualification from the assembly.

"All six MLAs have been issued separate notices wherein they have been informed that since BSP is a recognised national party as such there can not be any merger under para (4) of the Xth Schedule at the state level at the instance of the six MLAs unless there is a merger of the entire BSP everywhere at the National Level which admittedly has not been done in the present case and therefore they cannot claim any merger under any illegal and unconstitutional order of speaker which is against the Xth Schedule as well as against several judgments of Hon’ble Supreme Court,” the press note read.