Raj governor allows session, but asks for 21-day notice, Covid plan
nJAIPUR/NEWDELHI: Governor Kalraj Mishra asked the Rajasthan government on Monday to initiate proceedings to convene an assembly session, even as he asked it for a fresh proposal addressing his three recommendations — a 21-day notice for the sitting of the House; live-streaming of floor test, if it happens; and ensuring social distancing in view of the Covid-19 outbreak.
“If the government wants to win a vote of confidence, then it can become a reasonable ground for calling the assembly session on short notice. But it has to be said,” a Raj Bhavan statement said on Monday.
The statement came in the backdrop of persistent demand by the ruling Congress to convene the House. Confident of its numbers in the assembly, the party is pushing for a floor test in the assembly in the wake of a power tussle between Gehlot and former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot.
The Congress accuses the governor of delaying the session due to pressure from the Bjp-led central government — a charge that Mishra denies. Till late on Monday, the government did not officially respond to the governor’s concerns. Senior Congress leaders in Rajasthan said the three conditions could give more time to the state’s opposition BJP to try and get more MLAS on its side.
Congress leaders said a 21-day notice isn’t necessary and pointed out that in 2014, the third session of the 14th Rajasthan assembly was summoned on September 7 and the proceedings of the House began on September 15. “There have been umpteen instances when the assembly was called with a much shorter notice,” said Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi.