Former Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje (File photo)

In her first reaction on the political crisis in Rajasthan, BJP leader and former chief minister Vasundhara Raje Saturday said: “It is unfortunate that the people of Rajasthan are paying for the discord within the Congress.”

The interest of people must be paramount for the government, said Raje, said while asking the ruling Congress to think about the public. “There is no point in trying to drag the BJP and the BJP leaders names through the mud. It is the interest of our people that must remain paramount!”

Her response came in the wake of the ongoing political row between the Congress and the BJP over the audio tapes, in which Union Minister of Jal Shakti Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and Congress MLA Bhanwarlal Sharma are allegedly heard plotting to topple the Ashok Gehlot government, continued Saturday with the saffron party demanding a CBI probe. The Congress responded to the above claims by saying that the saffron party has finally admitted to its role in the “murder of democracy”.

Raje has been keeping a calculated distance thus far. A source close to Raje said she did not want to be part of the developments since the party leadership “did not keep her informed about the events, nor did they have any discussions with her”. According to the source, she did not want to take “credit” for disrupting the government, as she “would not like to take the blame if it does not see positive results”.

Earlier this week she also skipped the core committee meeting scheduled by the BJP. While her absence from the scene triggered some whispers in the party, Hanuman Beniwal, an MP of NDA ally RLP, publicly alleged that Raje was trying to save the Gehlot government.

The Rajasthan High Court has, meanwhile, extended till Tuesday evening the deadline set by Speaker C P Joshi to the 19 rebel state Congress MLAs to respond to his showcause notices.