There is a battle for leadership going on in Rajasthan and it does not look good for Congress. The struggle between deputy CM Sachin Pilot and Chief Minister of Rajasthan Ashok Gehlot has come to a point where Pilot has claimed that the state government is no longer in the majority. Congress has scheduled a legislative meeting on Monday morning.
The state police have registered an FIR against Pilot for allegedly plotting to topple the government. A special police team called Pilot to join the investigation and irked Pilot further and he released an official statement that Gehlot had lost majority. Pilot has claimed that he has the support of 30 Congress MLAs along with some independent ones.
Pilot met Scindia
Pilot also met Jyotiraditya Scindia on Sunday in Delhi, who had recently left the post of general secretary, Congress, and joined BJP. His departure made it possible for BJP to form government in Madhya Pradesh by removing Kamal Nath from the chief minister’s seat. The alleged meeting between the two young leaders has raised the speculations that BJP is supporting Pilot. Scindia said in a statement that Pilot is being sidelined by the Congress.
Reports have also stated that Sachin Pilot is scheduled to meet BJP’s JP Nadda today. However, a report in News 18 claimed from ‘BJP sources’ that no meeting has been scheduled between JP Nadda and Sachin Pilot and
There are speculations that Congress’s number is not at risk in Rajasthan and Gehlot is prepared to face any attempts of BJP and Pilot to topple his government. Last night, during a press conference, Congress party said that 109 MLAs had signed a letter to ‘express their support’ for the party. Rajasthan Congress in-charge Avinash Pande added, “A whip has been issued to all party MLAs to be mandatorily present at Congress Legislature Party meeting to be held tomorrow morning. Strict disciplinary action will be taken against any MLA who is absent without mentioning personal/special reason.”
A whip has been issued to all party MLAs to be mandatorily present at Congress Legislature Party meeting to be held tomorrow morning. Strict disciplinary action will be taken against any MLA who is absent without mentioning personal/special reason: #Rajasthan Congress in-charge https://t.co/adTEHg0iM1 pic.twitter.com/xrdqiCYNn9
— ANI (@ANI) July 12, 2020
Congress MLAs to meet CM
On Monday at 10:30 AM, the Congress legislature party will meet at the chief minister’s residence. As [er reports, it was scheduled for late Sunday night but got postponed after the central leadership asked Ajay Maken, Randeep Singh Surjewala and Avinash Pande to manage the crisis. The said meeting is an attempt to show strength by Gehlot.
While many Congress MLAs and senior leaders were seen meeting Gehlot to show their support for him, a few Congress MLAs, including Inder Raj Gurjar, PR Meena, Rakesh Pareek and more were untraceable. CM Gehlot had earlier tweeted, “CM, deputy CM, the chief whip, some other ministers and MLAs have received notices from SOG to record their statements in connection with Congress legislature party’s complaint regarding horse-trading by BJP. It is not appropriate to present it differently by some media outlets.”
