Jaipur: Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot (C) with senior Congress leaders Randeep Surjewala, Avinash Pandey, Ajay Maken and K.C. Venugopal flashes victory sign during a meeting with the party MLAs at his residence in Jaipur, Monday, July 13, 2020. (PTI Photo)
Rajasthan Government crisis: Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and other ministers met at the CM’s residence Tuesday evening for a Cabinet meeting, hours after the ruling Congress sacked Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot and two others from the cabinet. Gehlot and the other ministers arrived there from the hotel where they were holed up amid the power tussle between Gehlot and Pilot.
In his first statement after the sacking of his deputy Sachin Pilot, Gehlot alleged that the entire Pilot camp is playing into BJP’s camp. Gehlot, who had met Governor Kalraj Misra, accused the BJP of conspiring against the government. “There is nothing in Sachin Pilot’s hands, it is the BJP which is running the show. BJP has arranged that resort and they are managing everything,” he said, adding that the party was forced to take a decision against Pilot.
After a no-show from Sachin Pilot at the CLP meetings, the Rajasthan Congress had decided to sack him as the Deputy Chief Minister. Cracking the whip on the rebel party leader, the party had also removed his loyalists Vishvendra Singh and Ramesh Meena from the state cabinet. Education Minister Govind Singh Dotasara will replace Pilot as the Rajasthan Congress president. Hem Singh Shekhawat made Sewa Dal state president. Minutes after Congress’ presser, Pilot tweeted, “Truth can be troubled, cannot be defeated.”
Amid the infighting, Pilot-led Rajasthan Congress camp had on Monday night released a video showing at least 16 MLAs sitting together. The same day, the Rajasthan Congress Legislature Party passed a resolution to extend their support to the Ashok Gehlot-led government, which Pilot claimed, has been reduced to a minority.
After joining the Congress party in 2005 while working as a lawyer, Dotasara won his first assembly elections in 2008 from the Lakshmangarh constituency. Ever since then, he has held the seat for three consecutive times. READ MORE
The rumblings in Rajasthan Congress have drawn a reaction from party’s Haryana MLA, Kuldeep Bishnoi, who has said that Congress high command needs to change its mindset and bring mass leaders in the forefront.
In a two-minute video message that he posted on his Twitter handle Monday, Bishnoi, the son of former Haryana CM Bhajan Lal, urged the Congress leadership to “do everything possible to persuade Rajasthan’s former Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot”, adding that the “party will suffer immense loss with Pilot’s exit too like it suffered great loss due to Scindia’s exit”.
Former chief minister and senior BJP leader Vasundhara Raje is expected in Jaipur tomorrow where the BJP will hold a meeting over the current political situation in the state. The meeting will begin after Raje's arrival, who is currently in Dholpur.
The meeting of council of ministers in Rajasthan has concluded. The meeting was held at the residence of chief minister Ashok Gehlot hours after the ruling Congress sacked Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot and two others from the cabinet. The ministers who attended the meeting have left for Fairmont hotel where they were holed up amid the power tussle between Gehlot and Pilot.
Sacked from the Rajasthan Cabinet for backing dissident leader Sachin Pilot, Congress MLAs Vishvendra Singh and Ramesh Meena insisted Tuesday that they had done nothing wrong. They, along with Pilot, were removed as Cabinet ministers for their alleged involvement in the "conspiracy to topple" the Ashok Gehlot-led Congress government in the state. Vishvendra Singh, who is an MLA from Deeg-Kumher, was the state tourism minister while Meena held the portfolio of the food and civil supplies minister.
"Where did we make any statement against the party? We wanted to draw the attention of the party high-command to the fact that we were not able to deliver on things promised in the manifesto for which the public elected us," Vishvendra Singh said in a video message.
Congress leader Shashi Tharoor expressed disappointment over the removal of Sachin Pilot from the post of Rajasthan deputy CM, saying he was one of the best leaders in the Congress fold and he should have joined efforts to make the party better instead of parting from it.
Rebel Congress leader Sachin Pilot Tuesday expressed gratitude to his supporters after he was sacked from the posts of Rajasthan deputy chief minister and state Congress president. In a tweet, he said, "My heartfelt thanks and gratitude to all those who have come out in my support today. Ram Ram sa."
Former Congress MP Priya Dutt on Tuesday said it was "unfortunate" the party has lost stalwart young leaders with great potential like him and Jyotiraditya Scindia. Dutt said she did not believe that being ambitious is "wrong".
"Another friend leaves the party both Sachin and Jyotirajya were colleagues & good friends unfortunately our party has lost 2 stalwart young leaders with great potential. I don't believe being ambitious is wrong. They have worked hard through the most difficult times," the former MP from Mumbai tweeted.
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Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, along with state ministers, leave from Fairmont Hotel for his residence. State cabinet meeting to be held at CM's residence at 7:30 pm and meeting of Council of Ministers at 8:00 pm today.
BJP leader Uma Bharti has attributed Sachin Pilot's rebellion to "humiliation" within the Congress. "Sachin is the son of (late Congress leader) Rajesh Pilot, who was like a brother to me and we shared family relations. So I know that his family has self-respect," PTI quoted her as saying.
"I can understand he must have been facing humiliation for the last one and a half years," she added.
Bharti also alleged that Rahul Gandhi was responsible for the "destruction" of the Congress, and held the Gandhi family responsible for the crisis in Rajasthan.
"He (Rahul Gandhi) insults and humiliates young leaders (in his party) due to envy....he is unable to tolerate brilliant young leaders. So these leaders are left with no option but to confront and fight," the senior BJP leader said. (PTI)
The Rajasthan state Cabinet will meet today at Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot's residence at 7:30 pm followed by meeting of Council of Ministers at 8:00 pm.
Taking a dig at the Rajasthan government over the sacking of Sachin Pilot, BJP leader Baijayant Panda Tuesday said, "In aviation, every flight plan includes an alternate airport or airstrip to divert to in the event of technical problems or severe bad weather. Every experienced pilot knows this."
"A vertical division can be seen in Congress party in Rajasthan, with the sacking of Deputy CM. Now, if the chief minister wants to expand his Cabinet, he should first prove majority on the floor. He will not send a good message if he does it without floor test," BJP's Gulab Chandra Kataria tells news agency ANI.
Congress leader Jitin Prasada Tuesday said no one can take away the fact that Sachin Pilot has long worked with dedication for the party.
Prasada, considered a leader of the party's "young brigade", also expressed the hope that the situation can be salvaged.
"Sachin Pilot is not just a colleague but my friend. No one can take away the fact that all these years he has worked with dedication for the party," Prasada tweeted.
Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot on sacking of Sachin Pilot: "The attitude was similar to the saying 'aa bail mujhe maar' given the tweets & statements of last few months... I've been impartial to all MLAs...no one is happy about the decisions & we tried to reach out but hobnobbing with BJP has taken place." (ANI)
Taking a dig at the crisis-hit Ashok Gehlot-led government in Rajasthan, Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat on Tuesday said that the dispensation is on autopilot as the chief minister is "busy chasing a Pilot".
"Sad to see Rajasthan Govt on auto-pilot because the CM is busy chasing a Pilot," Union Jal Shakti minister Shekhawat tweeted.
Shekhawat is an MP from Jodhpur in Rajasthan. He also made a veiled attack on the Gandhi family without taking its name.
"Looking at the rebellion clearly indicates that there is a lot of suffocation in the King's palace," Shekhawat tweeted.
"Why does the headmaster's son come first in the class?" he added. (PTI)
In his first statement after sacking of his deputy Sachin Pilot, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot Tuesday said the Congress party gave him full opportunity and invited him and his loyalists to the CLP meeting on Monday and Tuesday but he did not turn up. He also alleged that the entire Pilot camp is playing into BJP's camp.
CM @ashokgehlot51'speaks on @SachinPilot camp: @IndianExpress#Rajasthan #RajasthanPolitics #RajasthanPoliticalCrisis #GehlotVsPilot pic.twitter.com/NagcvUHnEw
— Hamza Khan (@Hamzwa) July 14, 2020
"People are angry and disappointed with this govt and no power in the world can save it. Our priority is that this govt loses power. We are vigilant, monitoring the situation & will decide our strategy as the situation unfolds," Rajasthan BJP president Satish Poonia said.
Soon after being sacked by Congress as Rajasthan Deputy Chief Minister and state Congress unit chief, Sachin Pilot changed his bio on Twitter to MLA from Tonk.
Rajasthan governor Kalraj Mishra has accepted CM Ashok Gehlot's proposal to remove Sachin Pilot as Deputy CM, and Vishvender Singh and Ramesh Meena as ministers, news agency ANI reported
Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot met Governor Kalraj Mishra at Raj Bhawan in Jaipur