Rajasthan high court seeks speaker’s decision on Congress MLAs’ resignation
On September 25 last year, 91 Congress MLAs submitted their resignation to the speaker while opposing the Congress Legislature Party meeting called to determine Ashok Gehlot’s successor as the Rajasthan CM
Jaipur: The Rajasthan high court on Monday sought to know the decision of state Assembly Speaker CP Joshi on resignations of Congress legislators pending before him.
State’s advocate general MS Singhvi, who appeared on behalf of the speaker, sought time for filing reply. A division bench comprising chief justice Pankaj Mithal and justice Shubha Mehta directed Singhvi to seek instructions from the speaker and listed the matter for hearing on January 16.
On September 25 last year, 91 Congress MLAs — considered loyal to chief minister Ashok Gehlot, who at the time was a contender for the Congress president’s post — submitted their resignation to the speaker while opposing the Congress Legislature Party meeting called to determine Gehlot’s successor as the Rajasthan CM. The development was seen as a move by Gehlot loyalists to prevent former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot’s candidature as the CM face. Gehlot later pulled himself out of the party president’s race.
On December 6, the high court issued a notice to the assembly speaker on a petition filed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator Rajendra Rathore seeking to know Joshi’s decision on resignation of Congress MLAs. The court had given the speaker three weeks to file the reply.
“For 97 days, no decision was taken in the resignation of 91 Congress MLAs. Today (Monday), the court heard the case. I informed the court that assembly session has been called, but the question still remains what decision has been taken on the resignation,” said Rathore.
During the hearing, the petitioner objected to state’s advocate general appearing on behalf of the speaker and alleged that the Congress-led state government was misusing the office of the speaker for its benefit.
Earlier, a BJP delegation led by leader of opposition Gulab Chand Kataria also met the speaker on October 18 and requested him to accept the resignation of Congress MLAs including ministers.
Meanwhile, the Congress has indicated that the legislators are likely to withdraw their resignation before the start of the Assembly session on January 23.
“To avoid the indulgence of the court in the matter it has been decided to withdrawn the resignations,” said a senior party leader, requesting anonymity. “Besides the situation the resignation was submitted has lost substratum.”