Sachin Pilot, the Deputy Chief Minister of Rajasthan, rubbished rumours about his joining the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP.)
Amid the turmoil with the Indian National Congress (INC) and the Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, Sachin Pilot would not join the BJP.
On the night of the 12th of July, Sachin Pilot issued an official statement and threatened the INC of walking out with support of a few Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs.)
The Deputy Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) issued the statement. Sachin Pilot also claimed the support of 30 MLAs.
Immediately after the statement of Sachin Pilot, the INC held an emergency conference at 2:30 A.M., and said, “109 MLAs have signed a letter expressing their trust and support to a government led by CM Ashok Gehlot.”
In regard to this, the Rajasthan Government called for a meeting at 10:30 A.M., on the 13th of July.
Avinash Pande, in charge of the INC in Rajasthan called all party MLAs to be mandatorily present at the Monday legislature party meeting.
He further said, strict disciplinary action would be taken against any MLA absent without mentioning a reason.
Sachin Pilot did not attend the INC called all party MLAs meeting.
The chief spokespersons of the INC Randeep Singh Surjewala and Ajay Maken went to Jaipur to resolve the ongoing issue between Sachin Pilot and Rajasthan INC.
The growing issue could be a boon to the BJP, if Sachin Pilot and the claimed 30 MLAs walk out of the INC in Rajasthan.
A few supporters of Sachin Pilot said he raised issues against the functioning of the Gehlot Government over the past fortnight with Avinash Pande, the Congress organisation secretary K.C.Venugopal and senior Congress leader in Delhi.
A close friend of Sachin Pilot and a senior leader of the INC Rajasthan, who wished to be anonymous said, “His (Sachin Pilot) concerns were not addressed.”
The issue grew at a point when the Special Operations Group (SOG) of Rajasthan Police sent a notice to Sachin Pilot to record his statement regarding the alleged attempt to topple the INC Government in the State.
Ashok Gehlot, the Chief Minister of Rajasthan, on the 11th of July, alleged the BJP of trying to topple the Rajasthan Government by horse trading a few MLAs in Rajasthan including Sachin Pilot.
However, the opposition denied the allegations on the BJP.
Rajasthan is witnessing similar scenes as the Madhya Pradesh Government, which fell out due to a few Congress MLAs switching their party loyalty to join the BJP.
As of now, the MLA of the BJP formed the State Government in Madhya Pradesh
Similar thing happened in Karnataka, after the ruling party fell out due to the resignation of the Party MLAs.
Rajasthan has 200 Assembly seats, of which 107 MLAs are of INC, 72 MLAs of the BJP and 21 independent MLAs.
Of the 21 MLAs, 18 supported the INC and 3 the BJP.
The majority mark to form the State Government is 101.
Stay tuned for further updates.