The Sachin Pilot camp has moved the Rajasthan High Court challenging state assembly speaker's disqualification notice sent to them. The matter will be heard at 3 pm on Thursday. Senior advocates Harish Salve and Mukul Rohatgi are set to represent the Pilot camp before the court.
The plea was filed by Prithviraj Meena, an MLA supporting Sachin Pilot on behalf of the Pilot camp over the disqualification notice. The assembly speaker on Tuesday issued notices to Pilot and 18 other rebel Congress MLAs after the party sought their disqualification from the state assembly. “Notices have been issued to 19 rebel MLAs, including Sachin Pilot, yesterday,” Speaker C.P. Joshi told PTI on Wednesday. The legislators were asked to respond to the notices by Friday.
The Congress wanted action under paragraph 2 (1) (a) of the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution, which disqualifies MLAs if “voluntarily” give up the membership of the party which they represent in the House. The Congress letter said the Supreme Court has “unequivocally held” that the provision comes into effect when the conduct of an MLA leads to this inference.
Pilot was recently sacked as the Rajasthan deputy chief minister and the state Congress chief for revolting against the party. According to party, the MLAs defied a whip in not attending the party's legislature party meetings held on Monday and Tuesday.
At the same time, AICC general secretary for Rajasthan Avinash Pande and chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala have urged Pilot and other dissident legislators to return to the Congress fold if they are not joining the BJP. The offer comes at the instance of Rahul Gandhi, who wants to give Pilot another chance, party insiders said.
The Congress has made clear that it is going for revamp of the organisation in the state. On Tuesday, Pande announced that all cells and departments of the state Congress are dissolved so that they can be reconstituted under the leadership of the new PCC president. On Wednesday, he announced a similar disbanding of all district and block committees of the party.
Pilot resorted to revolt as he has been upset since the Congress picked Gehlot for the chief minister’s post after the 2018 assembly polls. His supporters had credited him for leading the Congress to victory as the state unit president. In the 200-member assembly, the Congress has 107 MLAs and the BJP 72.
In the past, the ruling party has claimed the support of 13 independents, two MLAs each from the CPM and the Bhartiya Tribal Party (BTP), and one from the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD).
