Rajasthan Political Crisis LIVE Updates: Bharatiya Tribal Party MLAs Meet Gehlot, Extend Support to His Govt

Rajasthan Political Crisis LIVE Updates: Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot today said MLAs of the Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP) met him and handed over their letter of support to him. As the political crisis broke out in the state, the Congress counted both BTP MLAs as supporters of the Gehlot government. They had voted for Congress candidates in the Rajya Sabha elections last month but their party had issued a whip earlier this week, directing them to remain neutral and not vote for the BJP or the Congress in case of a floor test in the assembly.

Gulab Chand Kataria, Leader of Opposition in Rajasthan Assembly, today said that the Home Secretary as well as the Chief Secretary of the state have so far denied having given permission to tap the phones of opposition's politicians. "Isn't it a violation of our civil rights to tap phone without authorisation? We don't demand a floor test, but if Ashok Gehlot thinks he has a majority, he should prove it in Assembly," said Kataria at a press conference.

BJP leader and former Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje today broke her silence on the political crisis that has engulfed the Congress in the state, saying, "It is unfortunate that the people of Rajasthan have to bear the brunt of the infighting in Congress...They are attempting to put the blame on BJP," she said. "Public interest should be paramount for the Rajasthan government, the Congress is trying to shift the blame on the BJP and the BJP leadership."

Meanwhile, Congress leader Pawan Khera, speaking to media after BJP Spokesperson Sambit Patra's allegations on phone tapping, said it was an admission of crime by the saffron party instead. "While murdering Democracy, the criminal is concerned about whether he was recorded and if yes, then recorded legally," he quipped, while also raising questions on Sachin Pilot's actions. He said while advocates considered close to BJP were busy defending the fact that Pilot and his dissident MLAs were still in Congress, the camp was in the custody of the BJP-ruled state Haryana.

The Congress MLAs can be seen relaxing with yoga, a film screening and culinary classes at the luxury hotel. The party on Tuesday had sacked Sachin Pilot from the posts of Rajasthan's deputy chief minister and the party's state unit chief, two days after he openly revolted against the Ashok Gehlot-led government in the state. Cracking the whip on the rebel leader, the party also removed his loyalists Vishvendra Singh and Ramesh Meena from the state cabinet. AICC spokesperson Randeep Surjewala announced the decision after a Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting held in Jaipur amid a tussle for power between Pilot and Gehlot. "Pilot was ensnared by the BJP to bring down the Congress government in Rajasthan. We have given him many opportunities. He has been an MP and MoS and a state party president. I am sad that Sachin Pilot and some of his colleagues have fallen for a trap laid by the BJP. This is unacceptable," Surjewala said.

Here are the LIVE Updates on the Rajasthan Political Crisis:

◕ Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, the Union Minister alleged of being involved in horse trading of MLAs hit out at the Congress, saying that the MLAs lodged at Fairmont Hotel in Rajasthan were doing everything except for serving the public of the state.

◕ BJP Spokesperson Sambit Patra, speaking today on the allegations of horse trading made by Congress, asked if the phone conversation thus recorded was done through phone-tapping. Congress had shared three audio clips as proof of horse-trading of MLAs, implicating a Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, as well. Patra asked whether all political groups were being phone-tapped in Rajasthan, and demanded a CBI inquiry into the matter, while rubbishing claims that BJP was in any way involved in the political tussle.

"Our morality is crystal clear," he said, while demanding to know whether the Standard Procedure of Operations (SoP) regarding phone tapping was followed by Congress.

BJP's Laxmikant Bhardwaj has filed a complaint against Congress leaders Mahesh Joshi, Randeep Surjewala, and others, at Ashok Nagar Police Station, over a "manufactured" audio clip and false statements by Congress.

◕ On Friday morning, Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala, citing a leaked audio clip, demanded an investigation into the alleged horse-trading and an FIR against Union minister and Jodhpur MP Gajendra Shekhawat for attempts to topple Ashok Gehlot government's in Rajasthan. Based on the transcript of the purported conversations read by Surjewala at a Press Conference in Jaipur, the Congress suspended two party MLAs Bhanwar Lal Sharma and Vishvendra Singh.

◕ Close aides of Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot have been called for questioning by the Income Tax Department, amid the ongoing political crisis. Ratan Kant Sharma, Sunil Kothari, Rajiv Arora and Congress MLA Dharmendra Rathore have been summoned for questioning by the IT Department, under section 131 of the Income Tax Act.

◕ The Special Operations Group (SOG) of Rajasthan Police on Friday arrested Sanjay Jain whose name had surfaced in a viral audio recording about horse trading of legislators to topple the Ashok Gehlot-led Congress government in Rajasthan, an official said. "Jain has been arrested following interrogation into the FIR lodged on the basis of audio recording that had gone viral on social media," Additional Director General (ATS and SOG) Ashok Rathore said.

◕ Sachin Pilot and 18 other Congress dissident MLAs on Friday got a four-day reprieve from any action by the assembly Speaker on the disqualification notices served on them, after the Rajasthan High Court extended its hearing on the issue to next week.

◕ A Rajasthan police team was on Friday evening stopped for some time by the Haryana police from entering a hotel in Gurgaon where some dissident Congress MLAs are said to be holed up, an official said.

◕ A Special Operations Group (SOG) team went to Manesar in Gurgaon to question MLA Bhanwarlal Sharma, as part of its investigation into two audio clips which allegedly indicate a plot to bring down the Congress government in Haryana.