Rajasthan political crisis continues to deepen. The Gehloy-led government today sacked Sachin Pilot from the posts of deputy chief minister and removed two of his loyalists from cabinet posts.
There is no end in sight for Rajasthan political crisis triggered by deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot who has raised a banner of revolt against Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot. While the Ashok Gehlot-led camp met today for the second time, Pilot gave the meeting a miss despite the invitation extended to him by senior party leaders. Following this, Pilot was sacked as Deputy CM and Congress state chief
Read All The Live Updates On Rajasthan Political Crisis Here:
7:34 PM: Hours after being sacked as Deputy CM, Sachin Pilot tweeted saying, "My heartfelt thanks and gratitude to all those who have come out in my support today."
5:07 PM: Rajasthan cabinet meeting to be held at Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot's residence at 7:30 pm and meeting of Council of Ministers at 8:00 pm today.
4:25 PM: "Dear Ashok Gehlot, closing your eyes does not make the sun disappear. There is weakness in the structure of your house, and you are blaming the BJP national leadership for this," BJP vice president Om Prakash Mathur, who is a senior party leader from Rajasthan, said.
3:58 PM: "Sachin Pilot is saying the right thing. Whoever people have chosen, they have won. May God give him good sense," Rajasthan Congress in-charge Avinash Pandey tells ANI.
3:33 PM: CM Ashok Gehlot is likely to reshuffle his cabinet in a day or two, sources say.
3:15 PM: "The attitude of our three colleagues was similar to the saying 'aa bail mujhe maar' given the tweets and statements of last six months... I've been impartial to all MLAs...no one is happy about the decisions and we tried to reach out, but hobnobbing with BJP has taken place," says Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot.
2:46 PM: 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.
2:42 PM: "Who is Ashok Gehlot to sack me? I have become state President of Youth Congress after winning elections," tweets Mukesh Bhakar, who is a Pilot confidante.
2:29 PM: 'Truth Can Be Disturbed, Not Defeated,' Says Sachin Pilot after being sacked as Deputy CM and Congress state chief. He has also changed his bio on Twitter to 'MLA from Tonk'.
2:11 PM: Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot meets Rajasthan Governor Kalraj Mishra to convey his decision to sack three ministers including Sachin Pilot.
1:44 PM: Ashok Gehlot will inform Rajasthan Governor of decision to sack three ministers, including Sachin Pilot.
1:39 PM: Sachin Pilot, Vishvendra Singh, Ramesh Meena have been removed from their posts. Govind Singh Dotasara appointed PCC chief
1:37 PM: "I regret Pilot and his colleagues got trapped by BJP to topple the Congress government. This is unacceptable. Party has taken some decisions," says Surjewala.
1:35 PM: “Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and other senior leaders have tried to speak to Sachin Pilot, others. High command spoke to Pilot 6 times, CWC members spoke to him dozens of times, Venugopal spoke several times. Through media and on behalf of Rajasthan's people, we told Pilot, others that doors are open,” Surjewala said.
1:33 PM: “Political events in the past four days in Rajasthan are well known. BJP has, under a conspiracy, challenged the pride of Rajasthan and tried to topple an elected government. BJP has misused money, muscle, ED, IT to buy Congress MLAs and independents,” says Randeep Surjewala.
1:03 PM: Congress Legislature Party meet concludes in Jaipur.
12:50 PM: Two CPM MLAs, who were not present at the meeting, have also assured Gehlot of support. That takes Congress' tally to 104.
12:36 PM: KC Venugopal, Congress general secretary in-charge of organisationand close aide of Rahul Gandhi, endorses demand of Gehlot-led camp for strict disciplinary action against Pilot.
12:15 PM: Gehlot camp takes a firm stand against Pilot. Central observers have been told that the state leadership has been more than tolerant of Pilot's dissent and that "no olive branch should be extended to him now." The Gehlot-led camp has called for a disciplinary action against Pilot and his loyalists, irrespective of the consequences.
12:11 PM: Leader of Opposition Gulab Chand Kataria tells Outlook: "This is a crisis within the Congress and has nothing to do with us. We are only 72 MLAs and our ally has 3. We are 26 MLAs short of majority so where is the question of staking claim to form a government as of now. Let's see how things develop. The CM and DyCM are only bothered about their own post and not the state. Rajasthan is suffering because of their fight".
12:10 PM: As per the attendance at the CLP, Congress' numbers stand at 102, a seat more than the simple majority mark. The Gehlot camp, however, claims that another 8-9 MLAs from Pilot's camp have been in their touch and assured support.
12:05 PM: Congress MLA Danish Abrar, known to be a confidante of Pilot, is also at the CLP. Abrar said the Gehlot-led government will survive. He added that Pilot has not officially said anything against the party and blamed the BJP for trying it's “usual tricks to destabilise the government”. He said the BJP will not succeed in its endeavours.
12:02 PM: Congress MLA, Master Bhawarlal, who is in hospital, has pledged support to Gehlot, sources said.
12:01 PM: Eighty-nine Congress MLAs, 9 independents, 2 Bharatiya Tribal Party MLAs and 1 RLD MLA are present in the CLP meet being held at Hotel Fairmont where Gehlot-led camp is housed.