Ashok Gehlot govt wants Rajasthan Assembly session on 31 July, drafts new proposal for governor

Jaipur: The Ashok Gehlot Cabinet on Saturday cleared a revised proposal to be sent to the Governor, asking that a session of the assembly should be called on 31 July, sources said. Governor Kalraj Mishra had sought Friday clarifications on six points from the state government, after Congress MLAs held a five-hour dharna on the lawns of the Raj Bhawan pressing for a Vidhan Sabha session. The dharna was called off, according to the Congress, after Mishra said he will abide by the Constitution but not act under any pressure. The Governor asked Gehlot to submit again, with the clarifications, his recommendation for calling a session. A statement from the Governor included queries on the free movement of MLAs and the reason why the session needed to be called urgently. After a late night sitting, the Cabinet met again at Gehlot’s home on Saturday, approving the new draft. Gehlot was expected to meet the Governor and submit the note to him, but the meeting was yet to take place till late in the day. The Congress government, which is facing a political crisis after a rebellion by the now sacked deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot and 18 other dissident MLAs, says it wants to hold the session so its majority can be proved. The Governor on Friday asked the government why it wanted to call an Assembly session to prove its majority if it already has one. In his note to the state government, Governor Mishra said ’no one is above Constitutional dignity and no pressure politics should be resorted to’. He said no date had been mentioned in the Cabinet note, annexed with the government’s request. The government had also not given any reason for calling the session at such short notice or proposed any agenda for it, the governor had said.