Pilot playing into the hands of BJP: Gehlot

Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot on Tuesday accused rebel leader Sachin Pilot of playing into the hands of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Speaking after the Congress announced the sacking of Pilot and his two aides from the state cabinet, Gehlot alleged that that the BJP wanted to repeat what it had done in Madhya Pradesh.

The Congress government led by Kamal Nath in Madhya Pradesh had collapsed in March after a rebellion by Jyotiraditya Scindia.

But the BJP's intentions will not fructify in Rajasthan, Gehlot said.

The chief minister said that Pilot and other ministers as well as MLAs were given ample opportunities but they did not attend the Congress Legislature Party meeting on Monday and Tuesday.

"There is nothing in the hands of Sachin Pilot. He is playing into the hands of the BJP which is making all the arrangements,” he told reporters after meeting Governor Kalraj Mishra.

“I am very sad that horse trading was going on. It is for the first time in the country that democracy is under such grave threat,” he said.

Gehlot said that he had fulfilled the rebel leaders demands by making budget announcements and "their works were done but still they were like this".

After attempts to assuage Pilot failed, the Congress on Tuesday removed him from the posts of Rajasthan's deputy chief minister and the party's state unit chief.

The party also removed his loyalists Vishvendra Singh and Ramesh Meena from the state cabinet.

Gehlot met the governor immediately after the Congress Legislature Party meeting where the decision to remove the three ministers was taken.