Rajasthan Political Crisis: Sachin Pilot Removed As Dy CM Of Rajasthan As He Snubs Second Congress Meet

Pilot and two other ministers have been sacked from their posts after they gave another miss to Congress party meeting despite repeated invitation by the grand old party.

Jaipur: A poster of Rajasthan Congress President Sachin Pilot, put up by workers following its removal, in Jaipur, Monday, July 13, 2020. (PTI Photo)(PTI13-07-2020_000201B)

Rajasthan Political Crisis: Congress has sacked Sachin Pilot from the post of deputy Chief Minister of Rajasthan and as the president of the Rajsthan Pradesh Congress Committee, after the disgruntled party leader decided to give another snub to the party's high-level legislative party meeting, despite open invitation and repeated coaxing by Congress top-brass including Priyanka Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. INC spokesperson Randeep Surjewala alleged that Pilot and his loyalists have fallen in the trap of BJP and have worked towards  disintegrating the existing government in the state. He announced that Govind Singh Dotasra has been appointed in Pilot's place. The party workers at Congress office were quick to remove Pilot's nameplate and replace it with that of Govind Singh. Reacting to the move, and apparently his first ever public response ever since the tiff with Gehlot, Pilot tweeted that truth cannot be defeated.

सत्य को परेशान किया जा सकता है पराजित नहीं।

— Sachin Pilot (@SachinPilot) July 14, 2020

Two other ministers Vishwendra Singh and Ramesh Meena have been removed from their posts. Party's state unit secretary Rajesh Kumawat also stepped down in solidarity with Pilot. As the crisis in Rajasthan politics deepened further, the Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot skipped the second Congress Party meeting scheduled in Jaipur on Tuesday. Even as the grand old party has called the minister to attend the meet in its effort to placate him but skipping the meet only sent a strong signal to the Congress that the young leader was not in any mood to budge. Watch here: Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has moved Congress legislators to a Fairmont resort on the Delhi-Jaipur highway. Even as most leaders have reached the venue but the meeting got delayed. It is being seen as the last-ditch effort of the Gehlot government to convince the young minister for a truce. However, Pilot and other MLAs are likely to face action as a result of skipping the party meeting.  It is likely that a show-cause notice is issued to the leaders and they may also end up losing their membership of Vidhan Sabha. The second meeting of Congress Legislature Party in two days began Tuesday morning with no sign of Rajasthan's Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot making an appearance. Eighteen other Congress MLAs also did not attend Monday's meeting, according to sources. But independents and MLAs from other parties participated, expressing support for Gehlot, according to news agency PTI. Ahead of the meeting, Congress general secretary Avinash Pande issued another appeal to Pilot, who had skipped the first CLP meeting at Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot's home on Monday. According to the 10-second video shared last night on Sachin Pilot's official group show 16 MLAs sitting together in a circle. Pilot is not seen in the video which has been tweeted by Rajasthan Tourism Minister Vishvendra Singh with the caption "Family".

The fall of Congress in the state may come as a big blow for Congress which has seen its downturn in Madhya Pradesh after the party lost its mojo. The pressure politics is being witnessed at this time and it is waiting and watch situation. In fact, Pilot who skipped the first meeting of legislators on Monday, a resolution by MLAs called for "strict disciplinary action" against anyone who did anything to weaken the government or the party. As a result of resistance from Pilot, Gehlot's numbers have dwindled. While offering a truce, the Chief Minister had invited all 107 Congress MLAs and 15 others - independents and allies. It is claimed that the Gehlot camp is 99 MLAs strong while 19 have sided with Pilot. In the 200-member assembly, the Congress had 107 MLAs and the support of 13 independents and five from smaller parties. Gehlot seems to be confident because of the numbers on his side.