It looks as if the BJP knows that Rajasthan is in its pocket as well. After Sachin Pilot on Monday announced that he would form a new political party called the Pragatisheel Congress, with outside support from the BJP, Income Tax raids were conducted on Congress leaders Dharmendra Rathod and Rajeev Arora. Both leaders are close aides of Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot.
The Income Tax department is also conducting raids on Fairmont Hotel – the venue where the Congress MLAs were supposed to be taken after Monday’s meeting of Congress Legislative Party members.
Forty teams comprising 250 individuals are raiding 18 different locations. That is approximately six members per team.
Earlier in the day, Congress MLA from Rajasthan Girraj Malinga said that there were many double-crossed individuals in the Congress, extending support to both Pilot and Gehlot.
On Sunday, Sarah Pilot, wife of Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot, on Sunday, attacked Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot without taking his name.
In a series of tweets tagged to Congress party, Sarah Pilot said, big magicians started sweating when we go to Delhi, apparently referring the magician to Ashok Gehlot.
The Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot is in Delhi to apprise the situation to the party leadership.
She said that for six years somebody struggled on roads in Rajasthan but when the moment came, Jaichand started taking advantage and usurped the throne. Sarah Pilot added a video of Sachin Pilot walking with hundreds of supporters when out of power.
To defuse the crisis in the state, source said that former union minister Ajay Maken along with state in-charge Avinash Pandey and Randeep Singh Surjewala is set to leave for Jaipur on Sunday night.
A Congress party source said that a meeting has been called by Gehlot on Monday at 10.30 a.m. which will be attended by Sachin Pilot.
Meanwhile, Surjewala took a swipe at the BJP and in a tweet in Hindi. He wrote, "Entire country is suffering from Covid-19 crisis and the fresh daily cases have crossed 29,000 mark. China has occupied our lands and the ruling party first bought our MLAs in Madhya Pradesh and now trying to lure legislators in Rajasthan. One needs to understand that crisis in not for any state but for the entire democracy."
