Covid-19: Rajasthan governor cancels ‘at home’ event on Independence Day

Jaipur: Rajasthan Governor Kalraj Mishra on Wednesday cancelled the customary Independence Day “At Home” programme at the Raj Bhavan because of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) outbreak in the state.

The Governor also used pandemic as one of the reasons not to convene the assembly session, despite the Ashok Gehlot-led government’s insistence and three proposals sent to him.

The Raj Bhavan hosts the “At Home” programme on the occasion of the Republic Day and the Independence Day on January 26 and February 15, respectively, every year.

“The Governor has expressed deep concern about the severe Covid-19 outbreak in the state. The rising number of active Covid-19 cases in the state is a worrisome cause,” stated a communiqué from the Raj Bhavan.

It quoted Governor Mishra, who said that when the Rajasthan assembly was adjourned sine die on March 13, there only two active Covid-19 cases in the state.

“There were 3,381 active cases in Rajasthan on July 1, which has breached the 10,000-mark on July 28. The state needs to make serious efforts to check the spread of the viral infection,” it added.

Rajasthan reported 38,964 Covid-19 cases until Wednesday morning, including 10,745 are active cases.

In a separate move, Governor Mishra, who has been rebuffing the Gehlot government’s move to convene the assembly session, has returned its proposal for the third time, even though the reasons ascribed to it are not clear as of now.

Chief minister Ashok Gehlot reached the Congress office in Jaipur with party legislators from the hotel, who have been holed up there along the Jaipur-Hotel highway since a bitter internal power struggle started over two weeks.

The Congress infighting has been fuelled by sacked deputy CM Sachin Pilot and backed by another 18 dissident party lawmakers.

Though Gehlot had come to meet the new Rajasthan Congress president Govind Singh Dotasra, who has replaced a rebellious Pilot, he immediately drove to the Raj Bhawan, when he heard that Governor Mishra has returned the proposal for the third time to convene the crucial assembly session.

Gehlot has been eager to prove his government’s majority on the floor of the 200-member House amid the Pilot faction’s bid to pull the rug beneath the ruling Congress dispensation’s feet that is allegedly being aided and abetted by the main opposition, Bharatiya Janata Party.

The ongoing Rajasthan political drama appears to be an echo of what had unfolded in neighbouring Madhya Pradesh (MP) in March and had triggered Kamal Nath-led government’s collapse, paving the way for Shivraj Singh Chouhan taking oath as the MP CM for the fourth time.