Relief for Sachin Pilot camp as Rajasthan HC asks Speaker to maintain status quo
New Delhi/IBNS: The Rajasthan High Court on Friday asked Assembly Speaker CP Joshi to maintain status quo, an order which will not need 19 rebel Congress MLAs including Sachin Pilot to reply to the disqualification notices served to them, media reports said.
The Speaker cannot take any action against the Sachin Pilot camp for now.
The decision came after the rebel MLAs on Friday urged the court to allow them to make the central government party to the case.
The central government has been allowed to be a party to the case by a bench of Chief Justice Indrajit Mahanty and Justice Prakash Gupta.
The Pilot camp had filed a plea in the high court challenging the disqualification notices served to them by Speaker Joshi.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court will on Monday resume hearing a plea filed by Joshi to stop the High Court's verdict on the matter.
The top court has already ruled the rebel MLAs can't be disqualified till Monday irrespective of the high court's judgement.
The Congress government in Rajasthan plunged into a political crisis more than a week ago following a rebellion by then deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot and his loyalists.
The rebellion has pushed the Congress-led Rajasthan government to the brink of collapse as Pilot claimed he had the support of 30 MLAs who would resign along with him.
After Pilot skipped two consecutive meetings of MLAs chaired by Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, the 42-year old leader was sacked as the Deputy CM and the party's state president.
Gehlot has claimed the support of 109 lawmakers including 107 from his own party and two from a regional outfit.
Gehlot on Thursday said that the state will have its assembly session soon, claiming he has the majority support of Congress MLAs.
"We will call the assembly session soon. We have a majority. All Congress MLAs are united," Gehlot told reporters.
"Those who have gone to court, those who have strayed, their only point is whether the disqualification notices served to them were justified. It has nothing to do with the anti-defection law," he said.
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