The Jaipur Rajasthan MLAs loyal to chief minister Ashok Gehlot, who quit en masse in September this year, began withdrawing their resignations on Saturday, two days ahead of MondayтАЩs scheduled court hearing on a petition against inaction on the matter.
The 91 Congress MLAs submitted their resignation letters to the assembly speaker three months ago on September 25 protesting against any move to make former state deputy Sachin Pilot the chief minister of Rajasthan.
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A senior Congress leader familiar with the development said, тАЬTo avoid any action by the court in the matter, it was decided to withdraw the resignations. Besides, the situation in which the resignations were submitted has lost relevance.тАЭ
The Rajasthan high court issued a notice on December 6 to state assembly speaker CP Joshi on a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by the deputy leader of the opposition Rajendra Rathore alleging inaction in deciding on the resignations submitted by 91 Congress MLAs before him. The court gave Joshi three weeks to file a reply.
Following a notice issued to the speaker, the case pertaining to the mass resignation will be taken up by the high court on January 2.
The partyтАЩs chief whip Mahesh Joshi said, тАЬI have learnt that MLAs are withdrawing resignations тАУ this is between the MLAs and the speaker.тАЭ
тАЬIf everyone is withdrawing (their resignation) then I am also one of them,тАЭ he added.
His remarks come as the Congress government is preparing to present its fifth budget, with the assembly session likely to start on January 23.
Mahesh said CM Gehlot will table the state budget in the upcoming assembly session in keeping with the expectations of the public.
After withdrawing his resignation, Dhariyawad MLA Nagraj Meena said, тАЬI resigned voluntarily and withdrew voluntarily.тАЭ
On speculation of a change in guard in the state, he said, тАЬElections are almost here. Why should the CM be changed? All the MLAs are with the CM.тАЭ
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Former minister Khetri MLA Dr Jitendra said, тАЬThere was no message from the high command to withdraw the resignations, but looking at the scenario, it was decided that everyone has to withdraw the resignations.тАЭ
Praising the work done by the chief minister in the state, Jitendra said, тАЬGehlot is doing a great job in Rajasthan. I have completed 35 years of a political career. The work that has been done under Gehlot in these four years, I have never seen so much.тАЭ
Slamming the MLAs and the state assembly speaker, the deputy leader of the opposition said 91 MLAs in-person handed their resignation letters to the speaker with their signatures and according to assembly procedure rule 173, the resignation was required to be accepted immediately.
тАЬThe fact that it takes 90 days to test the prescribed format of one line of resignation proves that those who planned this resignation game were not in a position to face the court in the matter. The matter is listed before the high court on January 2. So now a well-planned move to withdraw the resignations has been executed,тАЭ he said.
