Ashok Gehlot Accuses BJP of Trying To Destabilise Rajasthan Govt

Jaipur: Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Thursday accused the BJP of trying to pull off a coup in his state on the lines of Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka. He added that the Rajya Sabha polls were delayed on this count.

Gehlot, while addressing the media, asserted that his party MLAs were loyal to the Congress and he was proud of this fact. They had turned down crores of rupees offered by the BJP, he said. Gehlot accused the BJP of trying to lure MLAs with amounts as high as Rs. 25 crores.

Gehlot also questioned the source of the huge amounts brought to Jaipur for horse-trading.

The Congress decided to shift its MLAs to a luxury resort in Jaipur where Gehlot held what he described as a fruitful meeting. Elections to three Rajya Sabha seats in the state are scheduled to be held on June 19.

The Chief Whip forwarded a complaint on the poaching of MLAs by the BJP on behalf of the party in support of the the government to the DG, Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), seeking action against those trying to destabilise the elected government through corrupt means.

However, state BJP president Satish Poonia denied any attempts by the BJP to woo Congress MLAs over. He accused the Congress of not trusting its own MLAs.

The Rajasthan assembly has 200 legislators, and while the Congress has a strength of 107, including six who defected to the party from the BSP last year, it also enjoys the support of 12 of the 13 Independent MLAs in Rajasthan.

Gujarat resort politics

In the wake of shifting of loyalties of several Congress MLAs and fearing further poaching by the BJP, the Congress in Gujarat on Wednesday, shifted 17 of its legislators from a resort in Rajkot to a farmhouse near Gadhada town of Botad district, keeping in mind the upcoming Rajya Sabha polls.