HC to hear today plea against BSP unit’s merger with Cong

nJAIPUR: A petition filed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lawmaker Madan Dilawar against the merger of all six Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MLAS in the state with the Congress party last year will be heard by the Rajasthan high court on Monday.

The petition was filed on Friday against the Speaker’s decision to allow the merger that increased the Congress’ strength in the house.

The bench of Mahendra Kumar Goyal will hear the petition on Monday. The petitioner has questioned the inaction of the speaker on his complaint in March this year for disqualification of these six legislators under the 10th schedule of the Constitution (the anti-defection laws).

The Ashok Gehlot camp in the Congress appears to have a tenuous majority in the Rajasthan assembly at the moment: it has 101 legislators (excluding the speaker and another lawmaker who is indisposed, but including allies); a rebel faction led by former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot has 22 lawmakers; the Bjp-led grouping has 75. It’s easy to see what the disqualificationof sixlegislators(ofthe101) could do to the government’s majority.

According to the petition, speaker CP Joshi declared the six BSP MLAS – Sandeep Yadav, (Tijara), Wajib Ali (Nagar), Deepchand Kheria (Kisangarh Bas), Lakhanmeena (Karauli) and Rajendra Gudha (Udaipurwati) – as having merged with the Congress on September 18, 2019. Dilawar,the MLA from Ramganj Mandi constituency in Kota district, has challenged the validity, legality and correctness of the Speaker’s order.

Earlier, he moved a petition before the Speaker on March 16 under the 10th schedule praying for disqualification of these six

MLAS. That remains undecided.

Late on Sunday, the BSP issued a whip to the six MLAS to vote against the Gehlot government in any proceedings of the House. A signed communication by BSP general secretary Satish Chandra Mishra said all six MLAS were elected on the election symbol of the BSP issued by its national president Mayawati and were bound by a party whip to vote against the Congress government .

It also rejected the contention that they had duly merged their legislative party unit with the Congress. “All six MLAS have been issued separate notices wherein they have been informed that since BSP is a recognised national party as such there cannot be any merger under para (4) of the Xth Schedule at the state level at the instance of the six MLAS unless there is a merger of the entire BSP everywhere at the National Level …,” a statement from the party said.