Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Thursday said he wrote to Narendra Modi about the Bharatiya Janata Party’s alleged attempts to destabilise his government to ensure the prime minister was aware of the “complete scenario” of the political crisis unfolding in the state.
“I wrote to the prime minister as this is a democracy,” Gehlot told reporters. “I wrote the letter so that he [Modi] does not say that he didn’t have information or his people gave him incomplete information. I wrote it so that if I meet him, he does not say that he did not know about the crisis.”
In the letter, the veteran Congress leader had alleged that concerted attempts were being made to overthrow the elected government in Rajasthan and accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of trying to poach rebel Congress legislators. Gehlot had also named Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat in his letter.
Shekhawat’s name got drawn into the ongoing political crisis in Rajasthan after a purported audio clip of two dissident Congress MLAs conspiring to bring down the state government with the BJP leader emerged on social media last week.
Gehlot on Thursday added that the prime minister and BJP party leaders have been “caught red handed” as the purported audio tapes were accurate and have not been tampered with. He also reiterated the party’s demand that Shekhawat should give voice samples to end the row over the matter. “The world knows it was his voice, yet he continues to say, ‘This is not my voice’...but the truth will be revealed,” Gehlot said.
The chief minister added that an Assembly session would be convened soon and expressed confidence that his government has a majority. “All Congress MLAs are united,” he said. “Those who have gone to court, those who have strayed, their only point is whether the disqualification notices served to them were justified. It has nothing to do with the anti-defection law.”
The Congress government in Rajasthan has been on the brink of collapse since Pilot rebelled against Gehlot and proceeded with a few MLAs to Delhi last week. Pilot was sacked as the Rajasthan deputy chief minister and as the Congress’ state unit chief on July 14. The next day, Assembly Speaker CP Joshi disqualified Pilot and 18 other legislators.
The dissident lawmakers filed a petition in the Rajasthan High Court, which will deliver its verdict on the matter on Friday at 10.30 am.
Earlier in the day, the Supreme Court rejected Joshi’s petition against the High Court’s order to defer action on the disqualification notices sent to 19 rebel legislators, including Sachin Pilot. The top court said that the Rajasthan High Court can announce its verdict on the petition of rebel MLAs challenging the disqualification notices on July 24.
Justice AK Mishra, however, said that the Supreme Court will hear the case again on July 27 and the High Court’s judgement will be subject to its final verdict.
Before the crisis erupted, the Congress had the backing of 125 MLAs in the 200-member Rajasthan Assembly, including 107 of its own lawmakers. As many as 13 Independents and five MLAs from other parties support it. The majority mark in the Rajasthan Assembly is 101. The BJP has 72 legislators and has the support of three Rashtriya Loktantrik Party MLAs.
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