Governor returns Gehlot’s request for session with ‘six-page love letter’

Rajasthan Governor Kalraj Mishra emerged the arbiter of Rajasthan Chief Minister (CM) Ashok Gehlot’s political destiny as he took his time over a Cabinet recommendation seeking a meeting of the legislative Assembly.

Raj Bhavan returned the request for a meeting of the legislative Assembly with fresh queries and guidelines.

Gehlot told his Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) he had received another ‘six-page love letter’ from Raj Bhavan.

“The Raj Bhavan (governor) has no intention of not calling the Assembly session,” said the governor in a statement in which he raised three questions. He asked whether the CM wanted to bring a trust vote. “Do you want to bring a confidence motion? As it is not mentioned in the proposal but in public you (Ashok Gehlot) are making statements that you want to bring a confidence motion,” said Mishra.

He also asked if the MLAs would be given three weeks’ notice to attend the session in the current circumstances of Covid-19. He wanted to know what arrangements would be made to ensure the health and sanitation of MLAs, including social distancing.

The governor is refusing to be hurried into calling a meeting of the Assembly, while Gehlot would like one to be called as soon as possible – the longer he waits, the greater the chances of attrition from his ranks.

By just a stroke of luck for Gehlot, the Rajasthan High Court (HC) dismissed a petition filed by the Bharatiya Janata Party against the earlier merger of six Bahujan Samaj Party MLAs in the state with the Congress party. If the petition had been admitted and the merger declared illegal, the Gehlot government would most assuredly have fallen.

In a parallel, Rajasthan Assembly Speaker C P Joshi withdrew his plea in the Supreme Court (SC) against a HC order asking him to defer his decision on disqualification notices issued to former deputy CM Sachin Pilot and 18 other MLAs. The Speaker had also challenged being told by the HC to hold off on any action against the rebels. That the Speaker backed off suggests the legal route to resolving Gehlot’s dilemma has been abandoned.

The Speaker took cue from the scathing comments made by the SC questioning his right to disqualify Pilot and his legislators. The apex court commented that the “voice of dissent cannot be suppressed in a democracy”. This may have led him to believe that the outcome of challenging the order of the lower court in the SC might not go in his favour.

Chafing at the governor’s delay, Gehlot spoke to Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi to complain about his conduct – in itself unusual because the PM does not come anywhere in the chain of command of governors. The nodal ministry is the Ministry of Home Affairs and governors report to the President of India.

Congress leader P Chidambaram said at a virtual press conference: “I sincerely hope the President will take note of what is happening – the erosion of parliamentary democracy, the erosion of the Constitution, the violation of the Constitution, and do what is right in the circumstances.”

Chidambaram said the President has the “absolute authority” to tell the governor that what he is doing is wrong and ask him to call an Assembly session.

“I still believe the President of India can intervene and instruct the governor to convene an Assembly session,” he said, when asked whether the President can directly intervene in the matter.

“I hope better counsel will prevail and wise people can instruct the governor that he must summon a session of the Assembly,” the Congress leader said, noting the governor has no discretion of his own in the matter.

Chidambaram said if the CM, who is accused of not enjoying a majority, wants to prove his majority, he is entitled to call a session at the earliest to prove it. “No one can stand in his way,” he said.

“Placing any obstacle to calling the Assembly session would undermine the fundamental basis of a parliamentary democracy,” he added.

The Congress also wrote to the President voicing its protest against the behaviour of the governor.

The party also resorted to direct action: except in Jaipur, in most other state capitals, the party protested before Raj Bhavan and courted arrest.