Sachin Pilot & MLAs rebelling, Rahul Gandhi attacks BJP; urges to 'speak up for democracy'

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has once again accused the BJP over the political upheaval in Rajasthan, though it is his key former ally Sachin Pilot and his MLAs who are unhappy. Targeting the BJP over the crisis in Congress, Gandhi took to Twitter and urged citizens to raise their voice to "protect democracy" and launched the party's campaign #SpeakUpForDemocracy.

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"Today, When the entire nation is fighting against coronavirus, the BJP is ripping up the constitution and demolishing our democracy. In 2018, people of Rajasthan elected the Congress government. Today, BJP is conspiring to topple democratically elected Congress government after doing the same in Madhya Pradesh, BJP is now trying to "murder democracy" in Rajasthan," it said.

"We demand BJP to stop toppling democratically elected governments. We demand to immediately convene an assembly session within our constitutional rights. Join #SpeakUpForDemocracy to raise your voice and protect democracy," it added.

Rajasthan plunged into a political crisis after differences between the Sachin Pilot and Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot came out in the open. Pilot was removed as the Deputy Chief Minister of Rajasthan and as the state unit chief of the party. However, after much humiliation of the former deputy chief minister, Congress has maintained it has kept the doors open for Pilot to return to the party fold.

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The party even expelled cabinet ministers who were from the Pilot camp and the Rajasthan speaker suspended his MLAs, but after seeking legal recourse in the issue, Rajasthan High Court has maintained status quo on the disqualification, giving relief to Pilot and 18 other MLAs. This means no action will be taken against the MLAs till the SC hearing is completed. Moreover, it has made the Centre a party to the proceedings. The Ministry of Law and Justice has been impleaded in the case.

While the Congress has alleged BJP is attempting to topple the government, and CM Gehlot along with his MLAs gheraoed the Rashtrapati Bhavan demanding an urgent assembly session and threatening him of failure of law and order for which the CM will not be responsible, while the Governor has stated that it is the responsibility of the CM to maintain law and order in the state. The BJP has also lambasted the Chief Minister for threatening the Governor and maintained that it has not responsible for the internal failure of Congress party.