Wait & Watch Situation In Rajasthan, Will Sachin Pilot Join BJP Today?

Amid rift with Deputy CM Sachin Pilot, CM Ashok Gehlot has summoned a meeting of all party MLAs to display unity as he accuses BJP of poaching MLAs in Rajasthan.

Photo: AFP

A potential threat faces the already struggling Congress-led Rajasthan Government as the state Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot is likely to join BJP in the next 24 hours.  Pilot, who met with BJP's Jyotiraditya Scindia earlier in the day, is likely to join the saffron party in presence of party chief JP Nadda on Sunday, sources have claimed. However, later it was reported that Pilot will not be joining the saffron party, though Pilot's plan B has not been revealed. The Rajasthan Deputy Chief Minister has denied to return to Jaipur and join the all legislature party meeting organised by Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot. According to the sources, Pilot along with his few loyalist MLA, was in Delhi to meet Congress top brass Sonia Gandhi and former party president Rahul Gandhi to discuss over the ongoing rift between two factions of the government. If the source are to be believed, Rahul asked Pilot to return to Jaipur and work under the leadership of CM Gehlot and maintain the unity of the party. However, the development reveals that Pilot has reportedly taken a firm stand and denied to attend the all legislature party meeting. Pilot reportedly said that he will skip the meeting on Monday. He went on to say that "I have 30 MLAs backing me" Amid rift with Deputy CM Sachin Pilot, CM Ashok Gehlot has summoned a meeting of all party MLAs to display the "Hum Sab Saath Hai" notion as he accuses Bharatiya Janata Party of poaching Congress MLAs in Rajasthan. Gehlot claimed that while his government is busy battling the coronavirus the BJP is playing politics and trying to poach Congress' MLAs. What appears to be an apparent show amid the rift in the Congress-led government, the all MLA meet is scheduled to take place at 9 PM at CM's official residence in Jaipur. All the Congress MLAs along with the independent MLAs supporting the Gehlot government have also been invited for the meetup. The Congress holds 107 seats in the 200-strong Rajasthan Assembly and has support from 12 independent candidates. In addition, five MLAs from other parties - the Rashtriya Lok Dal, the CPI (M), and the Bharatiya Tribal Party - support Gehlot. ALSO WATCH | Rajasthan Political Crisis: Sachin Pilot speaks against Ashok Gehlot