Declaring an all-out fight against the Rajasthan Chief Minister over the alleged merging of Bahujan Samaj Party and the Congress in the state, BSP supremo Mayawati on Tuesday said her party will “teach Ashok Gehlot a lesson”.
Upset over the merger of six BSP MLAs in the state with the ruling party, Mayawati said, “In Rajasthan, after the election results, BSP gave unconditional support of all its six MLAs to Congress. Unfortunately CM Gehlot, out of his malicious intent and to damage BSP, merged them with Congress unconsititutionally. He did the same even in his last tenure”.
Addressing a press conference, the BSP supremo said that her party could have gone to the court much earlier but was waiting for an opportunity to teach the Congress party and CM Gehlot a lesson.
And she added, “Now we have decided to go to the court. We will not let this matter alone. We will go even to the Supreme Court”.
“…Congress itself carried out the act which they now call ‘theft’, while taking away 6 BSP MLAs. It’s unconstitutional, immoral and against people’s mandate. They’re now raising a hue and cry. The saying ‘ulta chor kotwal ko daante’ fits here,” she said.
The Bahujan Samaj Party has written to Rajasthan Governor Kalraj Mishra and Assembly Speaker CP Joshi stating that the alleged merger of BSP-Congress in the desert state is “unconstitutional”.
Rajasthan BJP President Satish Poonia on Monday said that BSP national General Secretary, Satish Chandra Misra had written to the Governor and the Speaker regarding the matter.
Meanwhile, the BSP had on Monday moved the high court seeking to become a party in the petition by BJP against the merger of six BSP MLAs in the state with Congress party.
A BJP MLA had on Friday filed a petition in the Rajasthan High Court for quashing the merger of six BSP MLAs with the Congress, a move which helped the ruling party to retain majority in the assembly.
The petition by Madan Dilawar also challenges the ‘inaction’ of the Speaker in not deciding on his plea seeking the disqualification of the Bahujan Samaj Party MLAs from the assembly.
The Speaker passed an order on September 18 last year declaring that the six MLAs will be treated as an integral part of the Congress.
The BSP MLAs had joined the Congress as a group after the 2018 assembly polls to avoid action under the anti-defection law.
Meanwhile, the BSP had on Sunday issued a whip to its six MLAs elected to the Rajasthan Assembly, directing all of them to vote against the Congress in case of any ‘no confidence motion’ or any other proceedings to be held during the upcoming session of the Rajasthan Assembly.
If any of them violates the order, they will face disqualification under Para 2 (l)(b) of the 10th Schedule of the Constitution of India, said the whip.
All the six MLAs have been issued separate notices wherein they have been informed that since the BSP is a recognised national party, there cannot be any merger under para (4) of the 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 which admittedly has not been done in the present case, and therefore they cannot claim any merger under any illegal and unconstitutional order of the Speaker which is against the Schedule as well as against several judgments of the Supreme Court, including the decision in the case of Jagjit Sing vs the state of Haryana in 2006.
Party supremo Mayawati today reiterated that the six legislators must vote against the Congress in any proceeding to be held during the Rajasthan Assembly session and warned of disqualification on failing to do so.