Rajasthan Governor Kalraj Mishra has accepted Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot’s fourth proposal for summoning a state assembly session and has given his nod for it from August 14.
Mishra issued an order regarding the same, in which he also directed that all necessary measures should be undertaken during the conduct of Assembly Session, as per the guidelines in place to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
“The Rajasthan Governor has approved the Cabinet proposal to call the assembly session from August 14,” a Raj Bhawan spokesperson said.
“He also gave verbal directions to make the necessary arrangements for the prevention of COVID-19 spread during the session,” the official added.
Earlier in the day, the Gehlot cabinet had sent this proposal after the previous ones were rejected due to clarity of a ‘solid reason’ to summon a session on a short notice.
Rajasthan Governor Kalraj Mishra has allowed to convene the assembly session from 14th August as proposed by Gehlot Cabinet on Wednesday evening.@NewIndianXpress@TheMornStandard#RajasthanPoliticalCrisis#RajasthanPolitics— rajesh asnani (@asnaniraajesh) July 29, 2020
As per government sources, this revised proposal, which is the fourth one in seven days, is in accordance with the Governor’s demand for a 21-day notice requirement (July 23, when the first proposal was sent) that Mishra was insisting upon.
While rejecting the government proposal earlier, Mishra had said a session can be called at short notice if the agenda is to seek a vote of confidence.
Otherwise, 21 days’ notice is needed, he had said.
The state government was earlier insisting that the session should begin on July 31.
“Neither the Governor nor the government wants confrontation. The Cabinet has passed a revised proposal for forwarding to the Governor,” Transport minister Pratap Singh Khachariyawas had told reporters after the evening meeting.
As the impasse over calling a session deepened, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot held a 15-minute meeting with Mishra at the Raj Bhawan.
In the three-page press statement, the Governor said the first proposal for an assembly session was received on July 23 but it did not have the Cabinet’s approval and no date was mentioned.
At the PCC meeting, Gehlot told Congress workers that there was nothing to worry about as the party’s top leadership was with them.
“The love letter has already come. Now, I am only going to have tea with him,” he said before heading for the Raj Bhawan to meet Governor Mishra.
He was referring to the note from the Governor, returning for the third time his Cabinet’s proposal to convene the state assembly.
Meanwhile, Govind Singh Dotasra formally took over as the new chief of the state unit at the meeting.
Ashok Gehlot is caught in a power tussle with his now sacked deputy, Sachin Pilot, who has the support of 18 dissident Congress MLAs.
Altogether, the Congress has 107 MLAs in the 200-member assembly and the BJP 72.