Chidambaram challenges Sachin Pilot; suggests act that'll put his allegiance beyond doubt

Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Monday alleged that Rajasthan Governor Kalraj Mishra is stalling the valid request of the council of ministers to convene a session of the Assembly. He also said Governors appointed by the BJP had earlier too "acted in gross violation of the Constitution in Arunachal Pradesh (2016), Uttarakhand (2016) and Karnataka (2019)."

"The Governor of Rajasthan has stalled -- and continues to stall -- a perfectly valid request of the council of ministers of Rajasthan to convene a session of the Legislative Assembly. 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," Chidambaram said in a statement.

Congress is "astonished and anguished" 

"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," he added. Chidambaram said the Congress is "astonished and anguished" by the attitude of the Governor and thus protested outside all Raj Bhawans in the country to highlight the gravity of the issue and draw people's attention to the alleged violations of the Constitution.

The Ashok Gehlot government in Rajasthan, which is facing a political crisis after a rebellion by the now sacked Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot and 18 other MLAs, has been pushing for a session of the Assembly. The Rajasthan Congress Legislature Party (CLP) has sent a memorandum to the President, seeking his intervention for convening the state Assembly session.

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'Pilot is embracing the BJP'

Rajasthan Governor Kalraj Mishra indicated Monday that an Assembly session can be called at a short notice if the state government says the agenda is to hold a floor test to prove its majority. The suggestion figures in a note sent by Mishra while returning - for a second time -- Ashok Gehlot Cabinet's recommendation to call a session.

READ | Congress legal eagles write to Rajasthan Governor; tell him he must convene the assembly

Asked about Sachin Pilot, Chidambaram said he has not spoken to him for the last 10 days and now "it seems to me entirely that he is embracing the BJP". He said Pilot should be the first to stand up and call for a session of the Assembly and then "we will know, which party he belongs to and what he will do".

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Asked about intentions of the Centre and the Prime Minister's Office, he said, "The intention is obviously a bad intention. It is ill intention to pull down the opposition's Government, but we will resist it. We will resist it everywhere. A majority Government cannot be pulled down. If the powers that be think that people are not watching all this, they are wrong."

"We will continue to resist everywhere, any attempt to pull down a lawfully elected majority Government," he said.

READ | Rajasthan HC junks BJP's plea against BSP-Congress merger amid whip against Gehlot

(With agency inputs)