Congress accuses BJP of destabilising Rajasthan govt, suspends two party members over alleged horsetrading

As the Rajasthan political crisis continues, Congress on Friday (July 17) suspended Bhanwar Lal Sharma and Vishvendra Singh from party membership for allegedly conspiring against the party.

"Congress has suspended MLAs Bhanwar Lal Sharma and Vishvendra Singh from the primary membership of the party. The party has also issued show-cause notices to them," Congress leader Rajdeep Surjewala said in an online press briefing.

The party also sought an FIR to be registered against suspended MLA Bhanwar Lal over the alleged audiotapes, that have been doing rounds on social media in which he has supposedly engaged in horse-trading.

"Yesterday, shocking tapes were aired by the media in which Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, BJP leader Sanjay Jain & Congress MLA Bhanwar Lal Sharma spoke about bribing MLAs and bringing down Rajasthan govt," Randeep Surjewala said. 

"We demand that Congress MLA Bhanwar Lal Sharma and BJP leader Sanjay Jain should also be booked. It should also be probed as to who arranged the 'black money' to bribe MLAs & who were given the bribe," Surjewala added.

According to media reports, Congress MLA Bhanwar Lal supposedly conspired to topple Ashok Gehlot led Rajasthan government in the audio clips. In the clips, he was talking to Union Minister   Gajendra Singh Rawat regarding the matter.  

Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat on Friday dismissed the horse-trading allegations, claiming that the "audio doesn't have his voice".

Special Operations Group (SOG) lodged 2 FIRs over purported audio clip about a conspiracy to topple Rajasthan Government. 

Ashoke Rathore, ADG SOG said, "Authenticity of audio clip needs to be probed first,"

"There were two complaints from Mahesh Joshi (Congress leader), it is with respect to the audio that went viral yesterday. We registered 2 FIRs under section 124A and 120B. The veracity of clip to be investigated," Ashoke Rathore, ADG Special Operations Group (SOG), Rajasthan stated," he added.

The controversy gained steam when the differences between Sachin Pilot and CM Ashok Gehlot came out in public.

Pilot was sacked from the posts of Rajasthan Deputy Chief Minister and state PCC president on July 14.

Rajasthan Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot is unhappy with Gehlot, especially after the Special Operations Group (SOG) of Rajasthan sent a notice to Pilot seeking his availability for recording his statement in connection with alleged attempts to destabilise state government.

As mentioned earlier, the latest in the series of political tensions in the state seems to have been triggered by machinations over alleged horse-trading of legislators. Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, who also heads the Rajasthan Home Ministry and thus law and order in the state, has repeatedly accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of offering crores to Congress MPs in an effort to destabilise the Congress government run by him.