18 months after the  Congress formed the  Government in Rajasthan, the Congress may lose Rajasthan all because of a fight between CM  Ashok Gehlot and Deputy CM Sachin Pilot. According to Pilot, he helped Congress win the 2018 elections in Rajasthan. But the Congress chose Gehlot to become CM instead of Pilot. This is why Pilot was angry. There were differences in opinions between Gehlot and Pilot over many state policies and the portfolio allocation. This led to camps within the party. Recently the Special Operations Group (SOG) launched an investigation on Pilot saying he was planning to sabotage Gehlot’s government. Pilot became even more angry and said, “ I can not put up with this humiliation.” He then went to Delhi to meet Congress Party head Sonia Gandhi to discuss this. He was missing for two days. 

Later, Pilot’s team released a list of 30 MLAs. They said that these MLAs were loyal to Pilot. If Pilot left the Congress, the MLAs would leave with him. The Congress then called a sudden press conference at 2.30am on 13th July and said all 109 MLAs of Congress have signed a letter and expressed their support for Congress. The Congress announced a meeting at Gehlot’s residence at 10.30 am on 13th July. If any MLA missed the meeting, strict action would be taken. Pilot did not attend the meeting. It is not known exactly how many MLAs attended the meeting. After the meeting all the MLAs were taken to a resort near Jaipur to ensure the support from MLAs. 

The total number of seats in the  Rajasthan Assembly is 200. A party needs a majority of 101 seats to form a government.  Congress has 122 MLAs and  BJP has 72. Currently the Congress is worried, that if Pilots leave the Congress with 30 MLAs, the Congress would lose Majority in the assembly and thus the government. Sources say that Pilot has been in talks with the opposition party BJP saying he has the support of 30 MLAs. But BJP is not ready to give him the post of CM due to internal party issues. Now Sachin Pilot has been removed from his post as Deputy CM. A similar incident had occurred in Madhya Pradesh. When Jyotiraditya Scindia left the Congress with his loyal MLAs and switched to the BJP. Because of this the Congress government collapsed and the BJP came in power in MP. People say something similar may happen in Rajasthan as well. 

Tags

• Rajasthan
• AshokGehlot
• SachinPilot
• Congress
• BJP

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