New Delhi: Dissident Congress leader Sachin Pilot on Tuesday got reprieve from the Rajasthan high court which asked the Speaker of the Assembly to defer disqualification notices against him and his supporting MLAs till Friday.
The court will pass appropriate orders on the writ petition filed by Pilot and 18 dissident legislators on that day, the Speaker’s counsel said.
Chief minister Ashok Gehlot, meanwhile, continued his attack on his former deputy saying those betraying the party will not be able to face the public.
Arguments were heard and completed by the high court on Tuesday. All the parties have been asked to file their written arguments by Friday.
There is nothing to show the Rajasthan Speaker "applied his mind" while serving disqualification notices to Pilot and 18 other Congress rebel MLAs, senior lawyer Mukul Rohatgi argued on behalf of Mr Pilot.
The counsel for the Speaker said: “The court will now pass appropriate orders on July 24. The Speaker was also requested to defer action on the notices till Friday".
Meanwhile, addressing his MLAs at a meeting of the Congress Legislature Party in Jaipur, Mr Gehlot lashed out at Pilot again.
He reiterated that a conspiracy to topple his government was being hatched but said he was confident that they will complete their tenure.
"The state government is fighting with the coronavirus crisis and at the same time, a leader who was a state Congress president and a few other MLAs in collusion with the BJP were hatching a conspiracy to topple it," he alleged. "This is intolerable and condemnable. Those betraying the party will not be able to show their faces in public”.
The CM also said those playing hide-and-seek can never be with the truth and thanked Bhartiya Tribal Party (BTP) and Rashtriya Lok Dal legislators for supporting the Congress.
AICC general secretary in-charge for the Rajasthan Congress Avinash Pande, KC Venugopal, Ajay Maken, Randeep Surjewala and Vivek Bansal were among those who attended the meeting.
