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- Published: July 14, 2020 13:48
New Delhi: Congress party on Tuesday took hard stance against Sachin Pilot for inciting ‘rebellion’ in the party and sacked him as Deputy Chief Minsiter as PCC chief.
Following his absence from the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting for the second consecutive day, held on Tuesday, Sachin Pilot was sacked from his party positions, Congress Spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala announced.
The two other absentee MLAs — Vishvender Singh and Ramesh Meena — have also been dropped from the Cabinet. “Sachin Pilot, Vishvender Singh and Ramesh Meena have been removed from the posts of Deputy Chief Minister and Ministerial posts respectively. Sachin Pilot has also been removed as the Rajasthan PCC Chief,” said Surjewala.
Speaking to reporters Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said: “High command was compelled to take the decision because since a long time BJP was conspiring and resorting to horse-trading. We knew it was a big conspiracy; now some of our friends went astray because of it and went to Delhi.”
#WATCH: The attitude was similar to the saying ‘aa bail mujhe maar’ given the tweets & statements of last few months… I’ve been impartial to all MLAs…no one is happy about the decisions & we tried to reach out but hobnobbing with BJP has taken place: Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot pic.twitter.com/04YqEbFcTV
— ANI (@ANI) July 14, 2020
After Gehlot met Rajasthan Governor Kalraj Mishra at Raj Bhawan in Jaipur, the Governor has accepted the resignations of all three party members.
“I regret that Sachin Pilot and some of his associates have been swayed by BJP’s plot and are now conspiring to topple the Congress government elected by eight crore Rajasthanis. It is unacceptable,” Surjewala said.
Sachin Pilot removed as Deputy Chief Minister, announces Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala #Rajasthan pic.twitter.com/5tj3TJxZe8
— ANI (@ANI) July 14, 2020
#WATCH: I regret that Sachin Pilot and some of his associates have been swayed by BJP’s plot and are now conspiring to topple the Congress govt elected by 8 crore Rajasthanis. It is unacceptable: RS Surjewala, Congress #Rajasthan pic.twitter.com/yopWWJ32Cg
— ANI (@ANI) July 14, 2020
‘Remove Sachin Pilot’ resolution passed at CLP
Earlier in the day, Congress Legislative Party (CLP) passed a resolution at Fairmont Hotel in Jaipur to remove Sachin Pilot as Deputy CM.
102 MLAs were present at the meet. They all unanimously demanded that Sachin Pilot should be removed from the party.
The second meeting of Congress Legislature Party in two days began this morning with Rajasthan’s Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot turning down appeals to participate.
#WATCH Rajasthan: Inside visuals of MLAs attending the ongoing Congress Legislative Party (CLP) meeting at Fairmont Hotel in Jaipur.
As per sources, 102 MLAs are present & have unanimously demanded that Sachin Pilot should be removed from the party. pic.twitter.com/FZxIUYVgq7
— ANI (@ANI) July 14, 2020
Ahead of the meeting, Congress general secretary Avinash Pande made another bid to reach out to the rebel leader, who had skipped the first CLP meeting at Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot’s home on Monday. Eighteen other Congress MLAs had also not attended Monday’s meeting, according to sources.
But independents and MLAs from other parties participated, expressing support for Gehlot. Tuesday’s meeting was said to be a second chance for Pilot, who is also the president of the state unit of the party. But MLAs considered close to Pilot were again not seen there and are calling for a floor test in the 200-member state assembly.
Political turmoil in Rajasthan
The Rajasthan Congress is in turmoil over the past few days. While Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has blamed the BJP for attempting to destabilise the State government by poaching MLAs, Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot has been camping in Delhi.
A controversy broke out in Rajasthan after Special Operation Group (SOG) sent a notice to Pilot to record his statement in the case registered by SOG in the alleged poaching of Congress MLAs in the State.