A congressional legislature party meeting will be held at 11 a.m. at the Fairmont Hotel in Jaipur.
New Delhi:
A meeting of Rajasthani congressmen this morning at the station where they were held captive for over a week fueled speculation that Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot would be inclined to a ground test. His challenger Sachin Pilot and his rebel team are spending an important day in court today. The Rajasthan High Court is hearing a petition from Sachin Pilot and 18 other rebel congressmen challenging the disqualification notices given to them last week for “anti-party activities”.
Here is your 10 point cheat sheet on the Rajasthan crisis:
-
A congressional Legislative Assembly party meeting will be held at 11 a.m. at the Fairmont Hotel in Jaipur, where Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has been guarding around 100 MPs since last Monday. Ashok Gehlot considers himself safe with the support of 103 MPs – two more than the majority in the 200-member assembly in Rajasthan.
-
The ruling of the Rajasthan High Court on the rebels’ petition will have a significant impact on the way forward for Sachin Pilot.
-
Yesterday, top lawyers on both sides argued over whether dissent was “anti-partisan” and whether the President’s action against dissent violated free speech. Senior lawyer Harish Salve, representing the Pilot team, said: “A disqualification notice for internal party dissent is a violation of freedom of expression.”
-
Abhishek Manu Singhvi, representing President CP Joshi – who served the disqualification notices on the rebels – argued that the Pilot team cannot approach the tribunal before the president acts. “The rebels have no reason to question the President until the President renders a decision. The President and the assembly are outside the jurisdiction of the tribunal at this time,” Singhvi said. .
-
Sachin Pilot and other rebels have been put on formal notice for “anti-party activity” after skipping two meetings of congressmen called by Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot last week. The court observed during the proceedings that Congress could not force MPs to attend a party meeting.
-
Team Pilot, who has been staying at two stations near Delhi for over a week, challenged a constitutional rule that disqualifies MPs if they “voluntarily” renounce membership of the party they represent.
-
Harish Salve, advocating on behalf of the Pilot team, said a party member was “free to challenge the party leadership” outside the assembly and that this did not constitute a defection. “Intra-partisan dissent, however acute, until it goes so far as to support another party, cannot be grounds for even initiating disqualification proceedings,” said Mr. Salve.
-
If Team Pilot is disqualified, that will lower the majority in the assembly and Mr. Gehlot will be able to win even more easily. Team Pilot has 19 members and, along with the 72 in the BJP, can deliver a close combat to the government if it wins the case.
-
Sachin Pilot broke his party after being asked to answer questions in an investigation ordered by the chief minister into the alleged corruption of Congressmen to change his loyalty and help bring down the Gehlot government.
-
While Congress has repeatedly stated that “the doors are open” for Mr. Pilot, who in turn insisted he would not be going to the BJP, Mr. Gehlot’s attacks became more and more in addition caustic. Yesterday, Mr Gehlot said that no one wanted to believe that such an “innocent face” could conspire against the party. He also used words like “nikamma” and “nakaara” – two variations of “worthless” – to describe Mr. Pilot.
