Rajasthan Crisis: The Sachin Pilot camp had challenged their disqualification notices in High Court.
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The Rajasthan High Court will decide on the petition of 19 rebel MLAs including Sachin Pilot challenging disqualification notices served to them by Speaker CP Joshi last week after they skipped two meetings called by the Chief Minister. The court may make the centre a party to the case and seek its views to decide on the validity of the anti-defection law in the case of the rebels.
The High Court had asked the Speaker to defer any action against the rebels till its verdict. The Speaker challenged this request in the Supreme Court, arguing that no court had jurisdiction in this case and he was empowered to serve the notices.
The Supreme Court, which heard the case through video-conferencing, said the issues raised in the Speaker's petition required "prolonged hearing" as it involved a "larger question" related to the democracy and how it will survive. But the court said the high court's ruling would be subject to its final decision.
Hours after team Pilot scored in the Supreme Court, Ashok Gehlot told reporters that an assembly session would be called soon and he had a majority. He also met Governor Kalraj Mishra for the third time since the rebel crisis broke out.
"We will call the assembly session soon. We have a majority. All Congress MLAs are united," the Chief Minister told reporters, reflecting the Congress's strategy to go for a floor test without losing any more members to the rebel camp.
If the rebels win their case, they can vote in the assembly and pose a serious threat to Mr Gehlot's government. If they don't, their disqualification will help the Chief Minister by bringing down the majority mark.
The Congress has a narrow lead over the opposition and has only two more than the majority-mark of 101 in the 200-member Rajasthan assembly. Team Pilot has 19 MLAs and the BJP has 72. Including smaller parties and independent members, the opposition has 97 at the moment.
Mr Gehlot said he expected some rebels to return. "Some have been held hostage. Bouncers have been hired to guard them. They are calling us. We are hoping they will vote with us. We have full majority and with that majority, we will go to the house," he said.
Mr Pilot has emphatically denied his former boss Mr Gehlot's allegation that he was conspiring with the BJP to bring down the Congress government in which he was Deputy Chief Minister until he was sacked last week. He and other rebels have argued in court that they do not intend to quit the Congress; they only want a change in the leadership.
The Rajasthan police's Special Operation Group, ordered by Mr Gehlot to investigate what he calls "horse-trading" of MLAs, has been trying to track down two rebel MLAs in Mr Pilot's camp. The Congress alleges these MLAs were caught on audio making deals with Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat of the BJP.
