Bahujan Samaj Party Chief Mayawati on Tuesday said that she will approach the Supreme Court in connection with the decision of six former legislators of her party to join the Congress, to teach Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot’s government a lesson, ANI reported.

“BSP could have gone to the court earlier too but we were looking for a time to teach the Congress party and Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot a lesson,” Mayawati was quoted as saying by the news agency. “We will not let this matter alone.”

The BSP chief also lashed out at the Congress for accusing her of colluding with the Bharatiya Janata Party to oust its government in Rajasthan. “The Congress itself carried out the act which they now call ‘theft’, while taking away six BSP legislators,” she said. “It is unconstitutional, immoral and against people’s mandate. Now they are raising hue and cry.”

Mayawati said that she will cancel the party membership of the six legislators if they do not vote against the Congress in case of a test in the Assembly.

Last week, former BSP legislators Sandeep Yadav, Wajib Ali, Deepchand Kheria, Lakhan Meena, Jogendra Awana and Rajendra Gudha had been issued a whip by the BSP to vote against the Congress in the Assembly. The MLAs had applied for a merger with the Congress on September 16, 2019, a request which was granted by then Rajasthan Assembly Speaker Chandra Prakash Joshi. Two days later, the Speaker declared that the MLAs will be considered as a part of the Congress.

The six legislators were told that since the BSP is a recognised national party, there cannot be any merger under para [4] of the 10th Schedule at the state level at their insistence, unless there is a merger of the entire BSP everywhere at the national level.

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Tuesday criticised the BSP for its whip to the six MLAs and accused the party of conniving with the BJP. “Undeclared spokespersons of the BJP have issued a whip in support of the BJP,” she said in a tweet in Hindi. “This is clean chit to those who murdered democracy and the Constitution.”

The Congress is left with 107 MLAs in the Rajasthan Assembly – including the six Bahujan Samaj Party turncoats – after sacked Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot’s revolt. The majority mark in the 200-member House is 101.

The Congress government in Rajasthan is facing a threat of collapse after Pilot rebelled against Gehlot and took the MLAs on his side to Delhi earlier this month. Pilot was sacked as the Rajasthan deputy chief minister and the Congress’ state unit chief on July 14. The next day, Assembly Speaker CP Joshi sent disqualification notices to Pilot and 18 other legislators.

The Rajasthan Cabinet met again on Tuesday to discuss the suggestions made by Governor Kalraj Mishra for convening a session of the state Assembly. Mishra had on Monday agreed to hold the session if the government gave a 21-day notice to the legislators.

BJP legislator files second petition against merger

BJP MLA Madan Dilawar on Tuesday filed a fresh petition in the Rajasthan High Court against the merger of the six former BSP legislators with the Congress, PTI reported. His first petition had been rejected by the court on Monday.

Dilawar had raised questioned over the Speaker’s inaction on his complaint filed in March, asking for the BSP MLAs to be disqualified.