Gehlot Ends House Impasse

JAIPUR: The three-day-long deadlock in the state assembly came to an end on Saturday with the opposition withdrawing its dharna in the assembly hall after the intervention of chief minister Ashok Gehlot. The chief minister personally visited the protesting MLAs and agreed to press for revoking the suspension of two BJP members -- Rajendra Singh Rathore and Hanuman Beniwal -- from the house.Gehlot also agreed for a day-long debate on the water crisis, to be held on Monday.
"The opposition has agreed to the proposal to discuss the revocation of suspension of the BJP MLAs on Monday. "We don't want any MLA to be denied his right to represent his voters in the house and we would be consider the revocation on moral grounds," Gehlot told reporters after the meeting.
According to sources, the initiative for breaking the deadlock came from chief minister Ashok Gehlot as the BJP had been insisting that it was the responsibility of the ruling party to run the house. The chief minister conveyed his desire to end the impasse on Friday night through Chittorgarh MLA Surendra Singh Jadawat. On Saturday morning, a delegation of Congress leaders led by health minister A A Khan, Dr Raghu Sharma and party chief whip Virendra Beniwal met the opposition members and put forward the government view.
In fact, the road-map for a compromise was worked out without involving either Dhariwal or Rathore. Once the opposition agreed to the broad contours, the chief minister came down to the assembly at 10.15 am and held talks with opposition delegation in the presence of the speaker. The chief minister offered milk to Tiwari, who also agreed to break his indefinite hunger strike.
BJP leader Ghanshyam Tiwari, who thanked the chief minister for intervening in the matter, said: "We called off the dharna after the chief minister assured that the issue regarding revocation of suspension of our party MLAs will be discussed in the house on Monday."
Meanwhile, a decision on the censure motion against home minsiter Shanti Dhariwal was left to the speaker.
"The party has also withdrawn the call for a state-wide agitation on Monday in protest against the suspension,'' said party president Arun Chaturvedi.
BJP chief whip Rajendra Rathore was suspended on Thursday after his party colleague Hanuman Beniwal -- who was also suspended -- picked up a fight with home minister Shanti Dhariwal. The proceedings of the house were repeatedly disrupted with BJP MLAs not allowing Rathore to be marshalled out of the house and the Congress not ready for a compromise till the BJP chief whip moved out.