Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot with Congress leader Sachin Pilot. (Video screengrab)Congress leader Sachin Pilot Thursday met Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot at the latter’s residence in Jaipur ahead of the Congress Legislative Party (CLP) meeting.
After a month, @SachinPilot and @ashokgehlot51 finally meet at CM’s residence in Jaipur ahead of the CLP meet.@IndianExpress#Rajasthan #RajasthanPolitics#Rajasthanpoliticscrisis pic.twitter.com/z25vdV5Mfv
— Hamza Khan (@Hamzwa) August 13, 2020
The meeting comes after nearly a month-long political crisis in Rajasthan that witnessed Pilot openly rebelling against Chief Minister Gehlot along with 18 other party MLAs.
Meanwhile, the BJP on Friday will move a no-confidence motion against the Gehlot-led Congress government in Rajasthan, said Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Gulab Chand Kataria. The decision was taken at a BJP legislature party meeting held in Jaipur Thursday.
“Coronavirus cases are on the rise and the law and order situation is badly deteriorating. Attempts were made to link those, who were arrested by the SOG (Special Operations Group) over allegations of conspiring to topple the government, with BJP but the government failed in this. We will mention all these issues in the proposal,” Kataria was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.
He also said even though the political crisis in the Congress has been resolved, all is still not good in that party as “one is going to east and the other to west”.
The Rajasthan Assembly’s special session begins Friday.
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— Vasundhara Raje (@VasundharaBJP) August 13, 2020
The Congress party also revoked the suspension of MLAs Bhanwar Lal Sharma and Vishvendra. The two were suspended from the primary membership of the party for their alleged involvement in a conspiracy to topple the Gehlot government. The party has maintained that the crisis was a “closed chapter” and all legislators supporting its government will work towards strengthening the state government and fighting COVID-19 and economic calamities.
Just In: Ahead of CLP meet at 5pm, @avinashpandeinc withdraws suspension of Congress MLAs @ptbhanwarlal and @vishvendrabtp from primary membership of Congress party.@IndianExpress#Rajasthan #RajasthanPolitics #RajasthanPoliticalCrisis
— Hamza Khan (@Hamzwa) August 13, 2020
On Wednesday, Gehlot while speaking to reporters said that the return of the rebel MLAs was a “win of citizens”.
“This win, in reality, this is the win of citizens of the state. All the citizens of the state boosted the confidence of our MLAs by calling them (and telling them) ‘no worries, don’t worry if it takes a month or two, the government should win, the government should be stable, and then you come to our homes.’ So this is the win of passion of citizens of the state,” Gehlot had said.
He also said that more than 100 MLAs living together for a month “is a big thing in itself and this has never happened in India’s history,” adding that it was time to “forget and forgive” and move on in the interest of the nation.
Meanwhile, the BJP’s national leadership is learnt to have cautioned the state leaders to stay united and asked former chief minister Vasundhara Raje, who has maintained a distance from the activities in Jaipur, to ensure that the party’s MLAs remain together.
(Inputs from PTI)