BJP to move no-confidence motion against Ashok Gehlot government

Jaipur: In a major twist to the ongoing political crisis in Rajasthan, which looked like coming to an end with rebel Congress leader Sachin Pilot returning to Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot's camp, BJPs Leader of Opposition Gulab Chand Kataria said on Thursday that his party will move a no-confidence motion against the state government in the special Assembly session starting Friday.

The BJP convened a legislative party meeting on Thursday, which was attended by Union Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, national General Secretary Muralidhar Rao, state BJP President Satish Poonia, national Vice Presidents Avinash Rai Khanna and Vasundhara Raje, national Joint General Secretary (organisation) V. Satish, Gulab Chand Kataria and Deputy Leader of Opposition Rajendra Singh Rathore, among others.

Before the start of the meeting, Satish Poonia said that the state government is struggling on many fronts and hence the party is expected to move a no-confidence motion.

Kataria later said that for over a month, the Gehlot government has been camping in hotels, ignoring the ambitious Central government schemes for the state. "This government is acting against what it is preaching," he added.

Former Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje also made a scathing attack on the Congress, saying the party has been ignoring the people and their problems ever since coming to power in the state over one-and-a-half years ago.

"It changed the names of our schemes; now we want to take the benefits of the Central schemes to the people," she said. It needs to be mentioned here that Vasundhara Raje has come to Jaipur for the first time during the ongoing political crisis in the state.

She has all through maintained a stoic silence on the issue, except making a few tweets, besides recently meeting BJP national President J.P. Nadda and Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh in Delhi.