Rajasthan Deputy CM Sachin Pilot with former Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia. (Express photo/Renuka Puri)

Amid political rumblings in Rajasthan with reports of a widening rift between Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and his deputy Sachin Pilot, BJP Rajya Sabha MP from Madhya Pradesh, Jyotiraditya Scindia, targeted his erstwhile party, saying it gives little importance to “talent and capability”.

Scindia, who left the Congress to join BJP earlier this year, resulting in the collapse of the Congress government in Madhya Pradesh, Sunday took to Twitter and said: “Sad to see my erstwhile colleague, Sachin Pilot too, being sidelined and persecuted by Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot. Shows that talent and capability find little credence in the Congress.”

Sad to see my erstwhile colleague, @SachinPilot too, being sidelined and persecuted by Rajasthan CM, @ashokgehlot51 . Shows that talent and capability find little credence in the @INCIndia .

— Jyotiraditya M. Scindia (@JM_Scindia) July 12, 2020

On Saturday, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot had claimed that the BJP was trying to topple his government, and the state police arrested two members of the BJP for allegedly attempting to buy Congress and Independent lawmakers with offers of money. In the FIR, police mentioned that phonetaps had shown that the “Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister (Sachin Pilot) are having a fight”, and the “Deputy CM says that he will be the CM”.

This has alarmed the Congress leadership, and some Congress leaders have begun to recall the manner in which the the party had lost Scindia and Madhya Pradesh to the BJP after a similar long-drawn battle between the old guard and the new.

Throughout Saturday, several ministers and MLAs visited Gehlot’s home amid the political firestorm. Pilot, according to reports, remains “incommunicado”. In an attempt at a show of strength, the CM has also summoned a meeting of all party MLAs Sunday night.