This post is inscribed by Lakshay Diwan
On 12th July 2020, around 19 members of the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly flew to Delhi after a dispute over different offices between rival factions of the Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee, starting a governmental crisis within the state of Rajasthan. The then Deputy Chief Minister of Rajasthan, Sachin Pilot and his18 loyal MLAs went to Delhi from Jaipur, claiming that they have the support of a total of 30 MLAs and can topple the current Ashok Gehlot-led Congress government in Rajasthan. Gehlot asked senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Congress President Sonia Gandhi to handle the situation whilst slamming the Bharatiya Janata Party for trying to destabilize his government. Whereas BJP leaders claimed that this dispute is an internal matter of the Congress party and BJP is not responsible for the same.
Additionally, senior Congress leaders Randeep Singh Surjewala, Ajay Maken and Avinash Pande reached Jaipur to meet the Chief Minister, Ashok Gehlot at his residence and held a meeting at around 9 pm aiming to resolve the matter through effective communication and mediation. The Congress Party issued a strict whip to all its MLAs, making their presence mandatory, in the meeting held at the Chief Minister's House, or strict action would be taken against them. Meanwhile, Sachin Pilot reaffirmed that he would not be joining BJP, even though Senior BJP leader and former Congress turncoat, Jyotiraditya Scindia met him at his Delhi residence on 13 July. Congress MLAs along with Chief Minister and other prominent leaders of the party, held a meeting for requesting a confidence motion in the State Assembly. On the other hand, a short video clip was posted on the social media, that depicted that Sachin Pilot had the support of 18 Congress MLAs and 3 Independent MLAs then. He and his supporting MLAs were also invited to discuss the issues but they denied this proposal. Instead, he demanded that he should be given the post of Chief Minister of Rajasthan, which was previously denied to him, in the 2018 Rajasthan Elections.
On 14 July 2020, he was removed from the posts of Deputy Chief Minister of Rajasthan and President of Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee along with his 2 MLAs who had the post of ministers in the assembly. Rajasthan Bharatiya Janata Party President Satish Poonia slammed Indian National Congress and Ashok Gehlot for not choosing a young leader as the Chief Minister of the state. He also asserted that if Sachin Pilot wants to join BJP, they will willingly allow him. BJP also said that there should be a floor test within the Rajasthan legislature to prove their majority. Union Home Minister and senior BJP leader Amit Shah sent former Chief Minister of Rajasthan and BJP's national vice-president Vasundhara Raje to Jaipur to discuss the issue with BJP Rajasthan leaders and the current Leader of Opposition in Rajasthan Legislative Assembly, Gulab Chand Kataria, who said that they were closely monitoring the situation and were in constant touch with Jagat Prakash Nadda, the President of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
On the other hand, Sachin Pilot called for a press conference on 15 July 2020 for taking further steps after being removed from the posts of Deputy Chief Minister of Rajasthan and President of Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee. The press conference organized by Sachin Pilot, on 15 July 2020 was cancelled. Later, he was sent a notice by Speaker of Rajasthan legislature, C. P. Joshi about the dissolution of his membership from the assembly. In an exclusive interview with ANI, he was reported being said that he won't be joining BJP. Also, he would take the help of senior advocates on this matter. In the evening, he went to meet his MLAs in the resort of Gurugram. While, on the other hand, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot continuously alleged the BJP for horse-trading. But, BJP leader and Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat refused the allegation and said that in Congress's internal matter, there's no connection of BJP within the tiniest amount. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi told media that if any leader wants to quit Congress, then he can. We are not going to stop them. Outcome After Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot refused to listen to the Indian National Congress leadership, Chief Minister of Rajasthan Ashok Gehlot sacked Sachin Pilot from the post of the Deputy Chief Minister of Rajasthan. He was also removed from the post of the President of the Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee and Education Minister Govind Singh Dotasra was made the President of the Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee.[3] Cabinet Ministers Vishvendra Singh & Ramesh Chand Meena, who was supporting Sachin Pilot, were also sacked by the Chief Minister. State Presidents of the Rajasthan Pradesh Youth Congress and Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Seva Dal were also sacked by the Indian National Congress. With this, started the political fight between Governor of Rajasthan Kalraj Mishra & Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, on the issue for commencing the session of the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly. The government of Rajasthan wants to call the session on short notice, but Governor wants that at least a 21days notice is given before the commencement of the session. However, the deadlock ended up with permission for calling the Rajasthan legislature session on 14th August 2020. After this, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot decided to shift his MLAs from Jaipur to Jaisalmer. On 10th August, the event changed drastically, when Sachin Pilot met with Rahul Gandhi & Priyanka Gandhi. On the same day, rebel MLA Bhanwar Lal Sharma reached Jaipur and met with Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot. Sachin Pilot met Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and finally, both the factions of the Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee reunited. On 14th August, Ashok Gehlot led Rajasthan Government to win the trust vote in the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly through voice vote. All the MLAs of the Rajasthan Government were present, although 4 BJP MLAs were not present.
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