The last thing the Congress party needed is a political crisis in one of their strongholds – Rajasthan. On July 11th,the Rajasthan Chief Minister and Congress leader Ashok Gehlot accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of trying to disrupt his government. Ashok Gehlot said that even though the state is battling Covid-19, the BJP and its leaders in Rajasthan have "have gone beyond humanity" and are making attempts to topple his government. He further stated that the BJP has been offering favours of up-to 25 crore rupees to Congress MLAs to switch alliances.
The following day, Sachin Pilot – the young and dynamic Deputy CM of Rajasthan was reportedly seen in Delhi with 25 MLAs of the INC, it was said that he had come to meet the top leadership of the INC. While the tension between Gehlot and Pilot is nothing new, the tipping point came when Pilot was summoned for an investigation into an alleged bid to destabilise the Rajasthan government ahead of the Rajya Sabha elections. Pilot says that his supporters were hurt by this treatment meted out to him and have now made sure that the Gehlot government does not have a majority. Sachin Pilot’s loyal MLAs said they are "taking a stand to protect our dignity and self-respect at a time when our leader is threatened with notices from the SOG under the charges of sedition and criminal conspiracy." CM Gehlot, however; maintained that even he had been issued summons for the investigation as no one is above the law.
BJP had initially claimed the allegations put on it by Gehlot to be mendacious and says that it has no role to play in the turmoil. The party issued a statement accusing the Congress of trying to divert the attention from its internal disputes by making the BJP a scapegoat. Even Sachin Pilot amid reports of his meeting with BJP chief JP Nadda, had declared that he is “not joining the BJP”
Things too an interesting turn on Tuesday when BJP’s senior leader Om Mathur said that the BJP “has its door open for Sachin Pilot”. Just minutes after this announcement from Om Mathur, Sachin Pilot was relieved of his duties as the INC Rajasthan president and as the Deputy CM.
While the future developments can certainly not be predicted, there is no better way than Rajdeep Sardesai’s tweet to summarise the happenings: Sure sign that a Rajasthani thali is being cooked. Chef is in Delhi, kitchen is in Jaipur. We wait to see how many MLAs are served!
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