Ahead of the much-awaited Rajasthan Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting, which will be held at the chief minister's residence in Jaipur at 5 pm on Thursday, the Ashok Gehlot government has received a breather as the Supreme Court refused to pass any interim order against the merger of the six BSP MLAs with the Congress. The apex court refused to pass any interim order on BJP MLA Madan Dilawar's plea challenging the merger after taking into consideration that the Rajasthan high court is hearing the matter.
The apex court will take up the case for hearing on Monday. With no interim order, the BSP legislators will be able to vote during the trust vote of Rajasthan's Ashok Gehlot government, which is likely to be held on Friday.
Meanwhile, the crucial CLP meet will be held at CM Gehlot's residence in Jaipur on Thursday. The meeting, the first after the Congress announced that it has settled its differences with the Sachin Pilot camp, comes a day ahead of the state assembly session scheduled to convene from Friday.
All eyes are on the CLP meet as this would be the first time Gehlot and Pilot would be coming face-to-face after a bitter public feud. The Congress crisis in Rajasthan appears to have ended with the intervention of top leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra who met rebel leader Sachin Pilot earlier this week.
Pilot had openly rebelled against Gehlot last month along with 18 other Congress MLAs. He was then sacked as deputy chief minister and the party''s Rajasthan chief.
Ahead of the CLP meeting, Gehlot, in a series of tweets on Thursday, reiterated that it was important to "forgive and forget" to move forward.
"Whatever misunderstanding occurred in the party in the last one month, we need to forgive and forget in the interest of the country, the state, the people and in the interest of democracy," Gehlot tweeted. "We have to put all our energies in this fight to save democracy with the spirit of forgive and forget and move forward," he wrote on Twitter.
The Rajasthan Chief Minister claimed a "very dangerous" game to undermine the democracy that is going on in the country.
The struggle of the Congress is to save democracy under the leadership of the party president Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, he said.
"Save democracy should be our priority with the spirit of forgive and forget. The conspiracy that is going on to topple elected governments one by one in the country, the way governments were toppled in the states of Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh and other states.
"How ED, CBI, Income Tax, the judiciary have been misused, it is a very dangerous game that is going on to undermine democracy," Gehlot said in a series of tweets.
Ahead of the assembly session beginning Friday, the dissident MLAs have reached Jaipur following the intervention of the Congress high command on Monday. The MLAs in the Gehlot camp were on Wednesday flown back to Jaipur from Jaisalmer, where they were together at another hotel.
They were taken straight from the airport to the Fairmont hotel on the outskirts of the city, where they had stayed before being moved to Jaisalmer. The MLAs—mostly from the Congress and some allies—are expected to remain there till the assembly meets on August 14.
(With PTI inputs)
