Rajasthan governor meets chief secretary and DGP, adds to drama, intrigue

JAIPUR: Rajasthan governor Kalraj Mishra caused a flutter on Sunday when he met chief secretary Rajeeva Swarup and DGP Bhupendra Singh Yadav to discuss, among other things, security at Raj Bhavan against the backdrop of a Congress protest scheduled for Monday that the party later called off.
While the main item on the official agenda for the meeting was Rajasthan’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic, Mishra being closeted with the heads of the civil and police administration added to the drama and intrigue of the ongoing political crisis triggered by sacked deputy CM Sachin Pilot’s revolt against CM Ashok Gehlot.
A statement issued by Raj Bhavan at 4.30pm said the chief secretary and the DGP briefed Mishra about the steps being taken to prevent any law-and-order problem during the Congress-organised protest. Less than two hours later, the new PCC chief and minister Govind Singh Dotasra tweeted that Congress would hold demonstrations as part of its save-democracy-save Constitution campaign “outside Raj Bhavans in all states except Rajasthan”.

“We have sent a revised request (for an assembly session) to the governor and hope that he would grant permission to convene the session soon,” Dotasra said in a tweet posted at 6.18pm.

CM Gehlot had said on Friday that the administration should not be held responsible if people were to ‘gherao’ Raj Bhavan over the governor not acceding to his request for a special assembly session.
Leader of the opposition Gulab Chand Kataria told TOI on Sunday that Gehlot’s statement was nothing short of an act of “terrorising” the governor to do his bidding. “Though Raj Bhavan’s security is the government and the police’s responsibility, the CM saying he will not be responsible for any trouble created doubt. I, therefore, demanded the task be handed over to the CRPF,” he said.
Kataria said, “...governor can always ask why the request is being made. Once the government replies to queries, I am sure the governor will convene a session.” A 15-member BJP delegation had met Mishra on Saturday and urging to take “action” against the CM for allegedly resorting to intimidation.