The Rajasthan High Court on Monday dismissed a petition filed by Bharatiya Janata Party legislator Madan Dilawar against the merger of six former Bahujan Samaj Party MLAs with the Congress, PTI reported.
Former BSP legislators Sandeep Yadav, Wajib Ali, Deepchand Kheria, Lakhan Meena, Jogendra Awana and Rajendra Gudha had applied for a merger with the Congress on September 16, 2019, a request which was granted by then Rajasthan Assembly Speaker Chandra Prakash Joshi. Two days later, the Speaker declared that the MLAs will be considered as a part of the Congress.
The Congress is left with 107 MLAs in the Rajasthan Assembly – including the six Bahujan Samaj Party turncoats – after sacked Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot’s revolt. The majority mark in the 200-member House is 101.
On Sunday, BSP issued a whip to the six legislators in Rajasthan to vote against the Congress government in case the Ashok Gehlot-led government has to go through a trust vote.
The six legislators were told that since the BSP is a recognised national party, there cannot be any merger under para [4] of the 10th Schedule at the state level at their insistence, unless there is a merger of the entire BSP everywhere at the national level.
Lakhan Meena, one of the six MLAs, told ANI that he and the other legislators will steadfastly remain with the Congress. “The BSP is remembering us now after five months,” he said. “This [the whip] is not the BSP’s doing but has been orchestrated by the BJP.”
The Congress government in Rajasthan is facing a threat of collapse after Pilot rebelled against Gehlot and took the MLAs on his side to Delhi earlier this month. Pilot was sacked as the Rajasthan deputy chief minister and the Congress’ state unit chief on July 14. The next day, Assembly Speaker CP Joshi sent disqualification notices to Pilot and 18 other legislators.
On Monday, the Rajasthan Assembly Speaker withdrew his petition in the Supreme Court against the High Court’s July 21 order to defer action on disqualification notices issued to Pilot and 18 rebel Congress legislators.
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