With this, the Congress's strength in the house has come down to 89 now.
Patel had challenged the high court order which had dismissed his plea questioning the maintainability of Rajput's election petition.
In an interview with PTI, Chidambaram also stressed that no Congress MLA elected in the upcoming assembly polls can be poached by the Bharatiya Janata Party in Goa this time, saying 'our house is well-guarded' and though the 'thief' is still out there, the people 'will teach him a lesson'.
The hearing remained inconclusive on Monday and Chief Justice Indrajit Mahanty said it will be concluded on Tuesday. The order is also likely to be pronounced on Tuesday.
'Majority of the workers are not interested in the coalition'
The BJP had on Monday demanded the resignation of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on moral grounds after his government said in a reply to a question in the state A assembly that it taps phones in the interest of public safety and order.
Uttarakhand Speaker has issued notices to nine rebel Congress MLAs asking them why they should not be disqualified from the House for aligning with the opposition BJP.
Political parties were bracing for the assembly election results on Thursday in the crucial state of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and politically volatile Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur, sending out feelers for possible post-poll tie-ups.
Rebel Congress MLA and former chief minister Vijay Bahuguna, who also reached Delhi, said he is surprised why CM Harish Rawat has not resigned so far on moral grounds.
Nine Congress MLAs, most of them Bahuguna loyalists, rebelled against Harish Rawat and supported BJP's claim to form a government.
Thakor, who launched a vitriolic attack on the Congress after resigning from the assembly membership, said he voted for 'honest national leadership'.
'Everything else is a sham.'
The Congress has convened a CLP meeting on Friday ahead of budget presentation and warned its MLAs that absence would invite action under the Anti-Defection Law.
'Whatever misunderstanding occurred in the party in the last one month, we need to forgive and forget in the interest of the country, the state, the people and in the interest of democracy,' Gehlot said in a tweet.
Mitra, who had resigned from the BJP a few days ago, is considered close to veteran leader L K Advani.
The legislators will be staying at a luxury resort there and likely to visit the Somnath temple, sources said.
A day after a group of Congress MLAs met Sachin Pilot, another party legislator on Friday expressed support for the dissident leader as trouble brewed again in Rajasthan's ruling party.
Amid the ongoing crisis within the Congress in Punjab, its national spokesperson Supriya Shrinate on Friday expressed the hope that its leaders "talk more in private and less in public."
However, two Bahujan Samaj Party and one Samajwadi Party MLA who support the government skipped the CLP meeting, he added.
The BJP in New Delhi targeted top Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra over their party colleague's controversial remarks, questioning their silence on the matter.
'The 10% increase in women voters was a determined bloc of voters.' 'They were willing to try this third party, specially because it seemed it had done something in Delhi.'
Gehlot also alleged that some other Union ministers, including Dharmendra Pradhan, are involved in the "conspiracy" against his government.
A senior state BJP leader had said earlier in the day that Sawant would induct BJP MLA and Deputy Speaker of Goa Assembly Michael Lobo, and three of the ten MLAs who have switched over from the Congress.
"Where did we make any statement against the party? We wanted to draw the attention of the party high-command to the fact that we were not able to deliver on things promised in the manifesto for which the public elected us," Vishvendra Singh said in a video message.
The crisis in Rajasthan Congress intensified with Gehlot and his deputy Sachin Pilot at loggerheads, while Gehlot is blaming the Bharatiya Janata Party for trying to destabilise the state government by poaching MLAs, Pilot is camping in Delhi to speak to the party leadership regarding the political turmoil in the state.
Lodhi, who represented the Bada Malhera assembly seat in Chhatarpur district, joined the BJP at the ruling party's state headquarters in the presence of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.
'Shekhawat has no moral authority to continue as a Union minister and should resign so that the investigation is not influenced'
The development has come amid a power tussle that polarised the ruling party in the state headed for elections in just about four months.
Fearing poaching from the BJP, the MLAs were moved and expected to be lodged in five-star hotels or resorts.
The Congress claimed that the BJP was "trying hard" to get their party's MLAs on their side".
The cabinet expansion is on the cards for nearly two months ever since the BJP won the maximum number of seats in the December 5, 2019 bypolls and got a majority in the Karnataka assembly.
'If you put your own party into the witness box, like what Sidhu did, and treat them as wrongdoers, then how will the people of Punjab trust the party?'
Pilot said he has worked hard for bringing the Congress to power in Rajasthan and hoped the party would fulfil its promises made to the people.
Top Congress sources said the meeting took place a little after noon at Rahul Gandhi's residence and a 'positive outcome' was expected.
Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and other senior party leaders, including All India Congress Committee general secretary Avinash Pande and spokesperson Randeep Surjewala, also moved to Jaisalmer along with the MLAs in five chartered flights.
'The message they want to send to the country is that they can do anything by hook or crook'
While they shouted slogans praising Pilot, another group protested against Rajasthan Health Minister Raghu Sharma. The two groups were dispersed after the brief demonstrations. Police denied reports that they had to resort to a lathi-charge.
The 22 rebel Congress MLAs (who now have joined the BJP) will have to win the by-elections, which won't be easy as Digvijaya Singh and Kamal Nath will leave no stone unturned to secure those seats.
Scindia, earlier met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah in New Delhi.
While the two MLAs will abstain in the event of a trust vote in the assembly, it is, however, not a withdrawal of support.
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