Gehlot also alleged that some other Union ministers, including Dharmendra Pradhan, are involved in the "conspiracy" against his government.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said that Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has already 'accepted defeat' by requesting him not to stop schemes initiated by the Congress in Rajasthan, and gave a guarantee that the Bharatiya Janata Party will not stop any scheme but only try to improve it.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi is expected to reshuffle her team after Makar Sankranti, party sources said on Monday. "Ashok Gehlot, who became chief minister of Rajasthan, has left a vacancy as he was in charge of several states. This is also the time to do something about Margaret Alva who had been sidelined for her anti-party comments in last few months," a party general secretary said.
Pilot said rules and discipline of the party apply to all, adding that he hoped Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge would take a decision in the matter soon.
The hoardings have photos of Pilot and Bharatiya Janata Party MP from Jodhpur and Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and a line 'Why are you silent on Sanjivani scam Pilot ji? People want an answer'.
A Pilot camp MLA said that the former deputy chief minister is raising the issue of corruption in the public interest.
The incident occurred when Shah's cavalcade was moving to Parbatsar from Bidiyad village to address an election rally.
The political drama in Rajasthan over leadership change continued on Monday with MLAs loyal to Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot remaining non-committal on holding a meeting with Congress observers, who are likely to return to Delhi to apprise the high command about the developments.
Congress leader Sonia Gandhi was elected unopposed to Rajya Sabha from Rajasthan on Tuesday, officials said.
Ashok Gehlot can never be a challenger to the first son of the Congress party. The Scindias and Pilots will be Rahul's rivals should the party's fortunes revive, says Dr Sudhir Bisht.
Polling for 16 Rajya Sabha seats in the four states of Haryana, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Karnataka was held on Friday, June 10, 2022, amid allegations of attempts at horse-trading by rival parties.
Pilot had claimed that the Ashok Gehlot government was in minority and more than 30 Congress and some independent legislators have pledged support to him.
Mishra had earlier clarified that Raj Bhavan had never intended "not to call" the assembly session and asked the Ashok Gehlot government to deliberate on three points including a 21-day notice period for convening a session and maintaining social distancing norms.
Gehlot said Sonia Gandhi should continue to lead the party and if she has made up her mind, then Rahul Gandhi should come ahead and be the Congress president as the country faces the biggest challenge to save its democracy.
"Rajasthan government's proposal to the Governor asks to start assembly Session from July 31 and proposes discussion on coronavirus and other bills. No mention of floor test in the proposal," sources told ANI.
The Congress refrained from commenting on any peace formula between Gehlot and Pilot.
Ahead of the Haryana Assembly polls, the Congress on Wednesday announced seven guarantees, including the promises of a legal guarantee for minimum support price (MSP) and a caste survey, if voted to power.
These are the 15 seats to watch out for in Rajasthan where assembly elections will be held on November 23. The state has 200 constituencies.
Amid his power tussle with Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, Pilot has announced that he will be among the people and Congress workers in various districts of Rajasthan between January 16 and 20.
The meeting was held at the chief minister's residence which lasted for nearly two and a half hours.
The Governor, however, wanted the state government's clarification on some points before he makes the announcement, according to a Congress leader.
Amid high political drama over leadership change in Rajasthan, the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday hinted at imposition of President's rule in the state.
He said that the Congress government has fulfilled 98 per cent of the promises made in its manifesto and the next manifesto will be prepared on the basis of the 'Vision 2030' document.
The crisis surfaced on Friday when the Rajasthan Police issued notices to Gehlot, Pilot and the government chief whip, seeking time from them to record their statements over an alleged bid to destabilise the state's Congress government.
The Congress on Saturday named 22 more candidates for the Rajasthan assembly polls and denied ticket to Public Health Engineering Department Minister Mahesh Joshi from his Hawa Mahal constituency in Jaipur.
In the letter written Sunday, he accused Shekhawat, other BJP leaders and some 'overambitious leaders' of his own party for being involved in the alleged attempt to bring down his Congress government.
There is an atmosphere of tension and violence in the nation, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said in Jaipur on Thursday in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and also countered the narrative that "nothing was done in the past 75 years" in the country.
'These frequent visits show the BJP fears that the Congress will retain power.'
'I don't want to give any headline to the media as at present my focus is on the Bharat Jodo Yatra'
The Congress also has the support of 10 out of 13 independents, and other party MLAs like Rashtriya Lok Dal (1), which is its ally.
Members of the community held a meeting with social justice department officials in Jaipur, according to a statement.
The Shiv Sena accused Jyotiraditya Scindia of working hard to see that Pilot quits the Congress.
Sources said the leaders during the meeting discussed the possible reasons for the "unexpected" results in Haryana and decided to set up the team to ascertain the reasons behind such results and also look into complaints of "discrepancies" in EVMs, as alleged by party candidates.
In eight districts of Alwar, Bharatpur, Bundi, Dausa, Dholpur, Karauli, Sawai Madhopur and Tonk, the Congress in the 2018 assembly elections had won 29 out of 42 seats while the Bharatiya Janata Party got only six.
"Anti-incumbency has found no room in our system. People's aspirations were met in spite of the challenges and the government eventually delivered," says Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot in an exclusive interview to Rediff.com
Congress and independent MLAs, who had expectations from the cabinet expansion but were not accommodated in the reshuffle, would be adjusted in political appointments.
Shakur Khan was detained on Wednesday night by an intelligence department team who were acting on security-related inputs.
Manish Tewari, Prithviraj Chavan, Anand Sharma and Bhupinder Hooda are the members of the pro-reform G23 group who wrote a letter to party's interim president Sonia Gandhi.
The crisis in Rajasthan Congress intensified with Gehlot and his deputy Sachin Pilot at loggerheads, while Gehlot is blaming the Bharatiya Janata Party for trying to destabilise the state government by poaching MLAs, Pilot is camping in Delhi to speak to the party leadership regarding the political turmoil in the state.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted raids on the premises of Rajasthan Congress leader and former minister Pratap Singh Khachariyawas and Punjab AAP MLA Kulwant Singh as part of a money laundering probe linked to the Rs 48,000-crore PACL Ponzi scam. Khachariyawas, who served as a minister in the Ashok Gehlot government, claimed the ED action was politically motivated due to his criticism of the government. Singh, a real estate promoter, is reported to be Punjab's richest MLA with assets worth Rs 1,000 crore. The ED has been investigating the PACL scam since 2015, alleging that the company defrauded investors of Rs 48,000 crore through fraudulent investment schemes.
