 | « Back to article | Print this article |
Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot loyalist and state cabinet Minister Pratap Khachariyawas on Monday said that the Congress workers are attempting to save their party and have to be prepared to "spill blood on the roads" against the Bharatiya Janata Party which, he alleged, wants to "topple" the state government.
The remarks of the Congress leader came amid the ongoing political crisis in the state.
Speaking to ANI, Khachariyawas said, "The BJP wants to topple the Rajasthan government. I have told Ashok Gehlot that it is important to save the government, you have to perform witchcraft. The BJP will eye Rajasthan to divert attention from inflation. They did it in Maharashtra. If we don't respond with courage, there will be fights on the streets. The Congress workers will have to spill blood on the roads. I had said it earlier to Gehlot that the BJP is prepared and there is a conspiracy underway against the government."
He claimed that the central agencies will hit the streets of Rajasthan.
"The ED and CBI will hit the streets of Rajasthan. Congress workers will have to hit the roads, then I will also come. We will have an equal fight. If the BJP uses stick, we will respond. If they fire at us, we will respond. But if MLAs want to save government against BJP's conspiracy then they should be heard," he said.
The leader, however, denied any factionalism in the Congress party and said that all MLAs have the right to express their opinion.
"There is no factionalism in Congress. Every MLA has the right to put forth his view on democracy. If the MLAs united at the residence of the parliamentary affairs minister and said something, they did not commit any crime. They were the same MLAs who saved the government on the call of Sonia Gandhi. There is no opposition of Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Ashok Gehlot," the Congress leader said.
Responding to Ajay Maken's statement on issuing notices to rebel MLAs for their "undisciplined move", Khachariyawas said, "If any notice is issued, we will respond to it."
Earlier on Monday, Congress leader and observer for Rajasthan, Ajay Maken, dubbed the "unofficial" meeting conducted by state minister Shanti Dhariwal with the rebel MLAs of the Ashok Gehlot camp an "indisciplined move", while also stating that the party has never allowed "conditional resolutions" to take place, as against the demands by the group.
Maken said that Shanti Dhariwal, Mahesh Joshi and Pratap Singh met them as the representatives of the MLAs and put three conditions which also included not holding a one-on-one meeting with the observers.
A legislative party meeting was scheduled on Sunday evening at the residence of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot in the presence of the observers, which was attended by Sachin Pilot and his camp MLAs, however, the Gehlot loyalists had held a meeting with Cabinet Minister Shanti Dhariwal at his residence, following which over 90 MLAs had submitted their resignations to Speaker CP Joshi.
Pilot, is being seen as the successor of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, who is all set to contest the Congress president election scheduled on October 17. The Rajasthan deputy chief minister late last night conducted a second round of meeting with the AICC observers.
The Gehlot loyalists want someone from their own camp to be chosen as the next chief minister, instead of Pilot, who, according to them, had revolted against his own party back in 2020.