Mayawati bats for President's rule in Rajasthan; slams Gehlot's 'unconstitutional acts'

Demanding President's rule in Rajasthan, BSP supremo Mayawati on Saturday has said that the Governor should take cognizance of the ongoing political deadlock in the state. Slamming CM Ashok Gehlot for violating the democratic principles, Mayawati has alleged that Gehlot had repeatedly violated the anti-defection law in the past and lured other Party's MLAs into Congress. In line with the BJP charge on phone tapping by the Gehlot government, Mayawati said that now the Rajasthan CM is indulging in another illegal activity. Earlier in the day, BJP demanded a CBI probe and asked Congress government in the state of phones of all political leaders are being tapped illegally in the state.

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Pilot camp's massive allegation on Gehlot 

This comes days after former Cabinet minister Ramesh Meena lashed out at Ashok Gehlot and dared him to reveal the transaction between Congress and the six BSP MLAs who had joined the party in 2009. Meena, along with Rajkumar Sharma, Rajendra Gudha, Girraj Singh, Murari Lal Meena and Ramkesh Meena had joined the party in 2009, while Gehlot was CM. "Reveal how much money was offered to us to join Congress when we were in BSP? We were cheated saying that we will see development - which did not happen, inspite of us working honestly," he had said. 

READ | Rajasthan HC adjourns Sachin Pilot’s plea till Monday; no action against MLAs till Tuesday 

Rajasthan political crisis

The political crisis in Rajasthan began after the state's Special Operations Group (SOG) issued notices to multiple MLAs including CM and Deputy CM in connection with the alleged involvement of BJP leaders for toppling the state government. Following the incident, CM Ashok Gehlot accused the BJP of attempting to topple his government amid the COVID-19 crisis.

A day later, on July 11, Deputy CM Sachin Pilot went to Delhi with some of his supporting legislators. Sources said that he had a one-on-one meeting with senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel and had put out his grievances, while they also added that he met Jyotiraditya Scindia. Thereafter, Pilot and MLAs supporting him skipped two CLP meeting, following which Congress sacked him from the cabinet post and issued disqualification notices.

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Pilot and his dissenting MLAs challenged the disqualification notice issued by the Speaker and in a massive relief, the Rajasthan High Court on Friday adjourned the plea filed by Pilot and his MLAs to Monday at 10 AM. The Rajasthan Speaker assured the court that no action will be taken against the MLAs till 5:30 pm on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, addressing the media, Congress leader Randeep Surjewala announced the suspension of MLAs Bhanwarlal Sharma and Vishvendra Singh for being involved in the conspiracy to topple the government. He mentioned that two audio recordings had surfaced in which Sharma, Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and another person Sanjay Jain are purportedly talking about this conspiracy. Demanding Shekhawat's arrest, he added that chief whip Mahesh Joshi had submitted a complaint to Rajasthan Police's Special Operations Group for registration of an FIR in the matter. While Jain has already been arrested by the SOG, both Sharma and Shekhawat have denied that the voice in the tape is theirs. 

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