The Rajasthan High Court on Monday, 27 July, dismissed a petition filed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) against the merger of six Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MLAs in the state with the Congress.
Earlier on Monday, the BSP moved HC seeking to become a party in the petition.
The status of these six MLAs is disputed. Ten months ago, all the six MLAs had announced their merger with the ruling Congress, boosting its numbers in the Assembly.
Disputed Status of the 6 MLAs
The Bahujan Samaj Party on Sunday, 26 July, instructed 6 MLAs elected on the party ticket to vote against the Congress in the eventuality of a trust vote.
BSP general secretary Satish Chandra Misra made this announcement on the night of Sunday, 26 July, in a release issued in the name of party supremo Mayawati.
The six BSP MLAs are:
- Lakhan Singh from Karauli
- Deepchand from Kishangarh Bas
- Joginder Singh Awana from Nadbai
- Wajib Ali from Nagar
- Sandip Kumar from Tijara
- Rajendrasingh Gudha from Udaipurwati
The BSP is now disputing this merger of these 6 MLAs into the Congress. In its press release, it argued that as BSP is a national party the merger of its MLAs in Rajasthan is not valid as the BSP hasn’t merged with the Congress at the national level.
‘Where Were They for 9 Months?’: MLA Who Switched from BSP Says Party Acting on BJP’s Orders
BSP’s Rajasthan chief earlier today slammed the Congress and said that the six MLAs won the elections on BSP votes.
“The six MLAs had won the election on BSP tickets. CM Ashok Gehlot merged all of them with Congress. This is not the first time it happened in Rajasthan, it had happened in 2008 too,” he said.
“Whip was issued as the MLAs had won elections on BSP tickets and they can't get involved in Congress' activities or vote for them. BSP chief decided this after a lot of deliberation. We're working on her directions,” he added.
However, Lakhan Singh, one of the six BSP MLAs said that the BSP was acting on the behest of the BJP as it did not care about them for 9 months since they switched sides.
“We all have switched sides to the Congress already. The party was reminded of us after 9 months. This is a plot managed by the BJP, not the BSP,” he said.
“We learnt from the media that a whip has been issued. But we were not communicated about it at all. We will stand with the Congress under any circumstances,” Singh added.
Meanwhile, Rajasthan Assembly Speaker CP Joshi on Monday withdrew his plea in the Supreme Court, against the HC order asking him to defer his decision on disqualification notices issued to former Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot and 18 other MLAs.
According to ANI, Sibal said they will weigh legal options and might challenge the 24 July HC order.
Earlier, Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot said that he spoke to PM Modi regarding the “behaviour” of the governor.
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