Sachin Pilot and Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot. Pilot was removed as state Deputy Chief Minister on Tuesday.
Rajasthan Government crisis Live Updates: Sachin Pilot, who was shown the door after he failed to attend the CLP meetings for two consecutive days, told The Indian Express that he has no plans of joining BJP. “Some leaders in Rajasthan trying to fuel speculation that I am joining BJP but I am not doing so. I have worked very hard to bring Congress back in govt in Rajasthan,” Pilot told the PTI. Rajasthan Congress in-charge Avinash Pande, meanwhile, told the party’s doors are open for him.
Meanwhile, late Tuesday night Speaker C P Joshi’s office has issued notice to rebel MLAs seeking their reply by July 17. Congress chief whip Mahesh Joshi had petitioned the Speaker for disqualification of rebel MLAs yesterday.
Pilot’s removal as the deputy chief minister and state Congress chief has set the stage for another battle in Rajasthan — one that has all the signs of a protracted legal and technical fight.
Even as the political crisis in the state deepens, Rajasthan BJP unit has thrown its hat in the ring and will meet today to discuss the further strategy. Former chief minister and senior BJP leader Vasundhara Raje is expected to arrive in Jaipur today to attend a crucial strategy session of the party.
Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot with Sachin Pilot (File)
"We saw media statements where you (Sachin Pilot) have said that you are not going to BJP. If it is so, leave the hotels of Haryana's Khattar government, stop talking to BJP members," Surjewala said during the press conference.
"Stop talking via media. Come to the party and keep things before us directly," he added.
Addressing a press conference on the ongoing crisis in Rajasthan government, senior Congress leader Randeep Surjewala said: "We asked our young colleague Sachin Pilot and other party MLAs to keep their differences before the party and that we are ready to listen with an open mind."
"Speaking good English, giving good bytes and being handsome isn't everything. What is inside your heart for the country, your ideology, policies, and commitment, everything is considered," Gehlot said while speaking to reporters on Wednesday.
"We love the new generation. Tomorrow is theirs. Today's leadership, of our time, we struggled a lot 40 years ago in Youth Congress and NSUI. And after 40 years we are alive; some became PCC president, minister, AICC general secretary, and central ministers. The new generation which has come, it is wrong to say that we don't like them," Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot said.
"Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi like them. Ashok Gehlot likes them," he added.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said: "Horse trading was being done in Jaipur, we have the proof. We had to keep people at a hotel for 10 days, if we had not done that, the same thing that is happening in Manesar now would have happened back then"
The Congress petitions seeking the disqualification of 19 of its Rajasthan MLAs, including former deputy chief minister and state party president Sachin Pilot, have cited the legislators’ absence from successive Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meetings, conspiring to bring down the elected government in Rajasthan, and statements made by them to the press as grounds to establish that they have “voluntarily given up the membership of the Congress.” On Tuesday, the Rajasthan Assembly Secretariat issued notices to all the MLAs who are Pilot loyalists after the disqualification petitions were submitted by Congress Chief Whip Mahesh Joshi to Rajasthan Assembly Speaker CP Joshi. Click here to read the full story.
The petitions filed by the Congress, seeking the disqualification of 19 MLAs from Rajasthan including former deputy chief minister and state party president Sachin Pilot have cited the legislators' absence from successive Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meetings, conspiring to bring down the elected government in Rajasthan and statements made by them to the media as grounds to establish that they have 'voluntarily given up the membership of the Congress.'
Some of the notices addressed to individual MLAs from the Pilot camp along with the petitions have been accessed by The Indian Express. The notices were pasted at the gateway of the residence of these legislators. In the petitions, it has been argued by the Congress Chief Whip that the actions of these legislators lead to the conclusion that they have 'voluntarily given up membership' of the Congress party and therefore should be disqualified.
The BJP has 72 MLAs of its own, and has the support of the 3 MLAs of the Hanuman Beniwal-led Rashtriya Loktantrik Party, which takes its tally to 75. If the BJP sees an opportunity to topple the government, it can be expected to pull out all the stops to try to do so.
The 19 Congress MLAs have been given time until Friday (July 17) to reply to the Speaker’s notice. But they can challenge the notices served on them in court, either before or after that date. That will add a new dimension to the power struggle.
Should the disqualification process get stayed by a court order, and there is a trial of strength in the Assembly, the numbers game will become tight for Gehlot. That is because the Congress rebels may go with the BJP, and the saffron party will then have, along with Beniwal’s three MLAs, 94 votes in the Assembly. And the fortunes of Gehlot (88) will then depend solely on the 13 Independents and the MLAs of the smaller parties.
The Congress had won 100 seats in the Assembly elections of December 2018. The party won one seat (Ramgarh) later in a by-election, which took its tally to 101. Subsequently, six MLAs of the BSP joined the party, taking its tally to 107. With the issuing of the notices to 19 MLAs, the strength of the Congress in the Rajasthan Assembly now effectively stands at 88.
Gehlot claims the support of Independents and members of the smaller parties, and says that he still has the majority in the 200-member House But although he has claimed the support of 109 MLAs, the fact that 19 MLAs are with Pilot shows that he will have to depend heavily on the 13 Independents and MLAs of smaller parties like the BTP and the CPM to win in the event of a trial of strength in the House.
"We do not feel such need as of now. If we feel the need, the party will sit together and make a decision," says BJP leader Gulab Chand Kataria
Sources said Pilot had two main demands: replace Gehlot and make him the CM, or give a public commitment that he will be made CM at least a year before the next Assembly elections in 2023. The demands, according to a Congress leader who was part of the talks, were “unreasonable”. Despite Pilot’s posturing that his fight is for “honor and justice” — in the context of the FIR and the SOG notice — sources said the post of the CM was at the heart of the negotiations
There are two main takeaways. First, the move clears all speculation about the exact number of MLAs who are with Pilot. Second, it shows that the numbers game in Rajasthan is much closer than what it had been assumed at the beginning of the crisis — even though Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot continues to have a slight edge.
Congress had filed a petition with Speaker C P Joshi, seeking the disqualification of all party MLAs who did not attend the CLP meeting, AICC general secretary Avinash Pande said on Wednesday. He said it was up to the Speaker to decide what action to take if the replies to the notices were not satisfactory. The party has also issued a gag order, saying no Congress member can communicate with the media without the permission of the newly appointed state unit chief.
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel Tuesday announced the appointment of 15 Congress MLAs as parliamentary secretaries attached to offices of cabinet ministers in the state.
With the Congress having criticised the practice while in opposition in the state, the BJP said the party was trying to quell any chance of dissidence in the ranks, given the developments in Rajasthan. BJP MP Sunil Soni said the new appointees should thank Sachin Pilot, who was removed as Rajasthan Deputy CM on Tuesday after going public on his differences with the party, for their new appointments. BJP leader Rajesh Munat said, “The Congress, while in opposition, had challenged such appointments in the Chhattisgarh High Court. What happened now? CM Baghel has made these appointments to pacify dissidents.”
Madhya Pradesh Congress leader Digvijaya Singh said Sachin Pilot should have shown patience. "Sachin Pilot was made an MP, a Central Minister, Rajasthan Party Chief & Deputy CM, what is his age? He is still young, he should have some patience. His actions have been against the party discipline. These youngsters do not have patience," he said, news agency PTI reported
Sachin Pilot tells The Indian Express that he's not joining BJP. Earlier talking to Express on Sunday, Pilot told that he's not aligning with the saffron party.
Rajasthan Congress in-charge Avinash Pande told news agency ANI that the party's doors are still open for Sachin Pilot. "May God give Sachin Pilot wisdom and he doesn't try to topple govt. He should admit his mistake. Doors were always open for him for talks, even today. But, now he seems to have moved ahead of all this, so these things don't matter now."
In the latest episode of the Three Things podcast, we explain the options before Sachin Pilot after his sacking as the deputy chief minister of Rajasthan. Listen to our podcast.
Talking to news agency PTI, Sachin Pilot reiterated that he's not joining BJP. "Some leaders in Rajasthan trying to fuel speculation that I am joining BJP but I am not doing so. I have worked very hard to bring Congress back in govt in Rajasthan," Pilot told the agency.