End delay in calling session, urges Congress

The Congress on Monday expressed hope that President Ram Nath Kovind would intervene and instruct Rajasthan governor Kalraj Mishra to immediately convene a session of the state assembly to enable chief minister Ashok Gehlot to prove his majority on the floor of the House.

Addressing a virtual news conference, former Union finance minister P Chidambaram alleged that BJP-appointed governors have “violated the letter and spirit” of the Constitution and have in the process “gravely impaired” parliamentary democracy, its conventions and traditions.

Three former Union law ministers, all from the Congress, Kapil Sibal, Salman Khurshid and Ashwani Kumar , wrote to Mishra, asserting that the delay in calling an assembly session would create a “constitutional crisis”. The Congress also staged nationwide protests outside Raj Bhawans, except in Rajasthan where party legislators held a prayer meeting demanding that the House be convened immediately.

The comments and the letters came after Mishra sent back with queries, for the second time, a Cabinet note seeking an assembly session (this time from July 31).

“I sincerely hope that 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 told reporters.

He said if the chief minister, who is accused of not enjoying a majority, wants to prove it he is entitled to call a session at the earliest to do so.

“No one can stand in his way. Placing any obstacle to calling the assembly session would undermine the fundamental basis of a parliamentary democracy,” the senior Congress leader said, alleging that the Rajasthan issue has assumed “dangerous and monstrous proportions”.

In an interview with HT last week, Mishra said no was demanding that Gehlot prove his majority. However, given the ongoing court case concerning 19 Congress rebels led by Sachin Pilot, and the thin majority enjoyed by the government (101 in a house of 200, excluding the speaker and an indisposed lawmaker), the thinking within the Congress is that it is best if it proves its majority immediately -- a move that would also mean another vote of confidence cannot be asked for in the next six months.

Chidambaram added that a majority government cannot be pulled down and the Congress will continue to resist any such attempt.

He said the governor is bound by the Constitution to act on the aid and advice of the council of ministers in calling the assembly session. “It is settled law that the governor shall act on the aid and advice of the council of ministers. The governor has no discretion — let me repeat, no discretion at all — in the matter. The questions that the governor had raised to stall the request were irrelevant and beyond his authority. His current stand that the law gives him a discretion to summon the assembly or not is a complete distortion of the law declared by the courts,” Chidambaram added.

Congress leaders have accused Mishra of acting at the behest of the BJP-led central government.

Asked if the Congress has lost all hope of bringing back Pilot and his supporters to the party fold, Chidambaram said: “I spoke to him many, many days ago. I have not spoken to him in the last 10 days or so, he has not called me either. It seems to me that he is embracing the BJP. In fact, he should be the first to stand up and say, please call the assembly session and then we will know which party he belongs to and what he will do”.

Pilot has earlier denied speculations of joining the BJP.

In their joint letter to the Rajasthan governor, the three senior Congress leaders and former law ministers said the governor’s office, as envisaged under the country’s constitutional scheme, is above and beyond the constraints and compulsions of partisan politics, “so that its holder can act freely and fairly to uphold the Constitution”.

“Having served as Union Ministers of Law and Justice in different periods of time and as students of Constitutional law, we are of the clear view that established legal position obliges the Governor to call the assembly session in accordance with the advice of the state cabinet,” they added.

“Any deviation from established constitutional position in the present circumstances would be an avoidable negation of your oath of office and will create a constitutional crisis,” the letter read.

The BJP, however, said the Congress is targeting the governor to deflect attention from its internal fight.

“The internal fight within the Congress party is the reason behind the political crisis in Rajasthan. Congress is known for misusing democracy and power. If Ashok Gehlot cannot handle power, he should resign,” BJP spokesperson GVL Narasimha Rao said, pointing to the number of state governments dismissed by Indira Gandhi when she was Prime Minister and head of the Congress.