Rajasthan Congress On Edge With Latest Crisis. Here Are The Numbers

The ruling Congress in Rajasthan teetered on edge on Sunday after an all-out meltdown triggered by a tussle between Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and his deputy Sachin Pilot. The party had the support of 121 MLAs in the 200-member assembly before the crisis. Mr Pilot is in talks with the BJP, sources said, claiming he has the support of 16 MLAs and three independents.

This is how the numbers in the Rajasthan Assembly look currently:

The Congress's 107 MLAs include six from Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party who switched last year. It is also supported by 10 Independent MLAs and two each from the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Bharatiya Tribal Party.

The BJP has 73 MLAs and is backed by three from the Rashtriya Loktantrik Party.

Three independents are not aligned at the moment. The majority mark is 101.

The latest crisis surfaced on Friday when the Rajasthan Police issued notices to Mr Gehlot, Mr Pilot and the government chief whip, seeking time from them to record their statements over an alleged bid to topple the state's Congress government.

Sources close to Mr Pilot, a contender for the Chief Minister's post after the Congress victory in Rajasthan in 2018, said the letter from the special operations group (SOG) had upset the Rajasthan Congress chief, who apparently saw this as a snub.

In a tweet Sunday, Mr Gehlot stressed that the notices had gone to several people. He did not name Pilot in this connection, but said that a section of the media had interpreted the notices wrongly.

Several ministers and MLAs visited the Chief Minister's home, indicating their support to him. Mr Gehlot has called for a legislature party meeting at his residence at 9 pm. Some Congress MLAs, considered close to Mr Pilot have gone to Delhi, sources said.

The Congress meltdown comes this time within a month of turmoil over elections to three Rajya Sabha held seats on June 19. Mr Gehlot had then said that the BJP was trying to topple his government.

It also comes just three months after the Congress lost Jyotiraditya Scindia and Madhya Pradesh to the BJP.