Congress' Sachin Pilot Goes Incommunicado, In Talks With BJP: Report

NEW DELHI: In what might topple the Congress government in Rajasthan, deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot who shares an uneasy equation with CM Ashok Gehlot, is in talks with the BJP, according to a channel, citing sources.

According to the report, the BJP is not ready to offer Pilot the Chief Minister's post and certain leaders are also speculating that he might even float a regional party.

Sachin Pilot has gone incommunicado since he is not taking phone calls from any Congress leaders, including his friends in the party, according to another media report

It is said that Pilot is upset over summons for questioning by the Special Operations Group (SOG) over allegations of destabilizing the government. Pilot was summoned by the SOG on Friday over the complaint filed ahead of the Rajya Sabha elections by Rajasthan Chief Whip Mahesh Joshi.

Pilot is currently in Delhi and some of his loyalists are in talks with the Congress Party's high command.

The Congress holds 107 seats in the 200-strong Rajasthan Assembly and has support from 12 independent candidates. Also, five MLAS from other parties -- the Rashtriya Lok Dal, the CPM and the Bharatiya Tribal Party - support Gehlot.

It must be recalled that the Kamal Nath-led government had collapsed in March after Jyotiraditya Scindia joined the BJP with 22 MLAs after a long tussle between the party's old guard and the new.

Gehlot on Saturday accused the BJP of conspiring to topple his government by indulging in horse-trading, a charge denied by the opposition party which claimed it was the Congress' "infighting" at play.

Gehlot's frontal attack came as the state police's special operations group (SOG) arrested two persons and the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) filed a preliminary enquiry against three Independent MLAs for alleged attempts to bribe Congress MLAs ahead of the Rajya Sabha polls last month and destabilise the state government. Both SOG and ACB are part of the Rajasthan police.

"BJP leaders are playing the game at the behest of central leaders. MLAs were offered money... Rs 10 crore in advance and Rs 15 crore after the government is toppled," the chief minister alleged and added that the BJP wants to convert the state's politics into a goat market, "bakra mandi".

On Friday night, over 20 Congress MLAs had also issued a joint statement alleging that BJP was trying to topple the Congress government in the state by "luring" legislators.

The BJP, however, rejected the allegations saying whatever is going in the Congress is the result of infighting between the chief minister and his deputy.

(Inputs from ToI, NDTV, IANS)