Rajasthan Crisis: Team Sachin rider had another three day break yesterday.
Jaipur / New Delhi:
Asked by a court to postpone action against Sachin Pilot and other congressional rebels, the President of Rajasthan said today he would approach the Supreme Court to “avoid a constitutional crisis”.
President CP Joshi, who served disqualification notices on 19 rebel lawmakers, including Sachin Pilot for “anti-party activities” last week, was first asked to postpone the action for three days last week. The Rajasthan High Court announced yesterday that it will announce its ruling on the rebels’ petition challenging the notifications on Friday, and asked that the action against them be postponed until then.
The President will challenge the “delay and intervention” of the High Court before the Supreme Court. “It is well defined by the Supreme Court that only the President can decide on non-defection. The President had full authority to send an opinion,” CP Joshi told the media.
“It can only be considered legally later, after the President’s ruling,” he said, calling the rebels’ petition a dangerous precedent and a possible breach of constitutional rules.
The Sachin Pilot team had their second three-day break after the High Court finished hearing arguments yesterday over the rebels’ challenge to the President’s disqualification notices.
The notices were served after the rebels failed to attend meetings of congressmen, which was interpreted to defy a whip.
The rebels have argued that no whip can be in place when the assembly is not in session. They also told the court that they did not intend to quit the party and only wanted a change of leadership in Rajasthan, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot read. The President’s argument was that an opinion cannot fall within the jurisdiction of a tribunal until action is taken.
The president’s decision to seek intervention from the Supreme Court to restore his right to take action against the rebels goes hand in hand with speculation that Ashok Gehlot is keen on a test of strength in the Rajasthan assembly.
Mr Gehlot says he has the support of 102 MPs, one more than the majority.
If the 19 MPs on the Pilot team are disqualified, the majority score will drop, giving the Chief Minister much more leeway.
If the rebels, however, win the High Court case against the opinions and continue to be members of Congress, they can vote against the government and cause huge problems for Mr. Gehlot.
Team Pilot has 19 members and, together with the 72 in the BJP, can fight a close fight in government. With independents and small parties, the opposition total is 97.
Yesterday, the President’s lawyer told reporters that he would postpone the action against the deputies in a spirit of “mutual respect” between the two institutions.
