Jaipur
The Congress and BJP joined hands to scuttle the chances of the Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP) candidate becoming zila pramukh in Dungarpur district. Angered by the Congress betrayal, the BTP withdrew support to the Ashok Gehot-led government on Friday.
The two BTP MLAs are likely to send a letter officially withdrawing support from the government on Saturday.
The BTP has two legislators and withdrawal of support will not have an immediate impact on the Congress government which has 105 MLAs and support of 13 Independents, two CPIM and one RLD MLA in the 200-member house.
In the zila pramukh election BTP had emerged as the largest party winning 13 of 27 seats.
The BJP with eight votes seats and the Congress with six votes supported BJP-backed independent candidate Surya Ahari who won 14 votes.
The same game was played on three panchayat samiti seats in Dungarpur district with the Congress-BJP combine nudging out the BTP. Party sources said the tie-up was hammered out at the local level to stop the BTP. Congress and BJP leaders held a series of meetings throughout the day on Wednesday and an agreement was finally reached at 2 am on Thursday.
Analysts say both the Congress and BJP are wary of the BTP’s increasing influence in the tribal areas and want to stop the party.
A miffed BTP national president Chhotubhai Vasava took to twitter to vent his anger and said the party would withdraw support from the government of chief minister Ashok Gehlot.
