Rajasthan BJP president Satish Poonia on Monday asked Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot to quit on moral grounds, saying he is the villain of the political crisis unfolding in the state.

He said the crisis reflected the weakness of the Congress high command and exposed the party's character before people once again.

Poonia also raised the issue of the Congress MLAs' stay at hotels for the past month, claiming nearly Rs 10 crore has been spent on it. He held the "infighting" in the party responsible for it.

I had said on day one that it is the infighting of the Congress and they kept running from one place to another. There should be an audit of it in 'janta ki adalat', Poonia told reporters at the party office here.

Lashing out at the chief minister, the state BJP chief said, In this entire episode, the one who is actually a villain tried to become a hero. Ashok Gehlot should quit as the chief minister on moral grounds as it would lead to the solution of a lot of problems."

He also accused the government of failing to deliver on its promises.

There are many unemployed people in the state. Rajasthan has become a crime capital. The government should have taken care of it as well, he said.

Rajasthan is witnessing a political crisis, triggered by the rebellion of dissident Congress leader Sachin Pilot and 18 MLAs loyal to him against Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot.

The Congress has accused the BJP of horse-trading to topple its government in the state, a charge rejected by the opposition party.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)