Sachin Pilot, rebel MLAs face disqualification from Rajasthan Assembly

Sacked deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot and the other MLAs asked to respond to Speaker's notice by Friday

Rajasthan Speaker C P Joshi has issued notices to Sachin Pilot and other rebel Congress MLAs after the party sought their disqualification from the state assembly.

Sacked deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot and the other MLAs were asked to respond to the notices by Friday, sources said. The notices were issued on Tuesday.

Congress sources said Pilot and 18 other MLAs had defied a whip and did not attend its legislature party meetings.

Sachin Pilot was on Tuesday sacked as deputy chief minister and the state Congress president after he did not show up at the Congress Legislature Party meetings on Monday and Tuesday.

Two other ministers in the Pilot camp, Vishvendra Singh and Ramesh Meena, were also dropped from the Cabinet for their alleged involvement in a conspiracy to topple the Ashok Gehlot government.

The party had filed a petition with Speaker C P Joshi, seeking the disqualification of all party MLAs who did not attend the CLP meeting, AICC general secretary Avinash Pande said on Wednesday.

He said it was up to the Speaker to decide what action to take if the replies to the notices were not satisfactory.

The party has also issued a gag order, saying no Congress member can communicate with the media without the permission of the newly appointed state unit chief.
 

On Tuesday, Avinash Pande, who is the Rajasthan in-charge at the AICC, dissolved the state executive and all cells of the Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee (RPCC).

The Congress had appointed Govind Singh Dotasara as the new president of the party's Rajasthan unit.

With the appointment of the new president, a new state executive and departments will be formed, Pande said.

He said no Congressman will communicate with the media without the permission of the state unit president.