In her first reaction to the political crisis in Rajasthan, BJP leader and former Prime Minister Vasundhara Raje said on Saturday: “It is regrettable that the people of Rajasthan are paying for discord within Congress.”
People’s interest should be paramount to the government, Raje said, asking the ruling Congress to think about the public. “There is no point in trying to drag the BJP and the names of the BJP leaders through the mud. It is the interest of our people that must remain paramount!
His response came in the wake of the ongoing political dispute between Congress and the BJP over the audiotapes, in which Union Minister Jal Shakti Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and Congressman MLA Bhanwarlal Sharma are allegedly overheard conspiring to overthrow to the Ashok Gehlot government, continued on Saturday. with the saffron party demanding a CBI probe. Congress responded to previous claims by saying that the saffron party has finally admitted its role in the “murder of democracy.”
Raje has been keeping a calculated distance so far. A source close to Raje said she did not want to be part of the developments as party leaders “did not keep her informed of the events, nor did they have conversations with her.” According to the source, she did not want to take “credit” for disrupting the government, since “she would not like to take the blame if she does not see positive results.”
Earlier this week, he also skipped the central committee meeting scheduled by the BJP. While his absence on the scene caused some whispers at the party, Hanuman Beniwal, a member of parliament for the NDA ally RLP, publicly alleged that Raje was trying to save the Gehlot government.
Meanwhile, the High Court of Rajasthan has extended until Tuesday night the deadline set by President C Joshi to the 19 MLA of the state’s rebel Congress to respond to his exhibition notices.
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