Congress suspends two Pilot loyalists, demands arrest of union minister Shekhawat

Pilot had called P Chidambaram who had advised him to seize the opportunity offered by Congress and return to the party fold unconditionally

Congress on Friday suspended two of its rebel MLAs in Rajasthan and demanded the arrest of Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, accusing them of conspiring to topple Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot-led government in the state.

Track updates on the Rajasthan political crisis here

The sharp attack from the Congress came a day after audio recordings, purportedly of conversation between Shekhawat and Sachin Pilot loyalist and former minister Bhanwarlal Sharma, were released by the Gehlot camp to buttress its charge of attempts to topple the government in the state.

Addressing a press conference in Jaipur, Congress chief spokesman Randeep Singh Surjewala announced the suspension of Sharma and another former minister Vishvendra Singh -- both Pilot loyalists -- from the primary membership of the party after the audio recordings of their purported
conversation with BJP leaders came to light.

Surjewala also demanded registration of FIR against Shekhawat, a two-term Lok Sabha member from Jodhpur, who is purportedly heard in the conversation with Sharma, working out the modalities of defection in the Congress ranks.

Surjewala said the Congress had filed a complaint with the Special Operations Group in the Rajasthan Police on the basis of the audio recordings and asked them to investigate Shekhawat's role contending that he cannot work alone and links "went right at the top" in the BJP.

The entire focus of the press conference by Congress leaders was on alleged attempts by the BJP to destabilise the government and made no reference to Pilot, who has been reaching out to senior Congress leaders exploring the possibility of a rapprochement.

Pilot had called former Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Thursday. Chidambaram had advised him to seize the opportunity offered by the Congress and return to the party fold unconditionally.

Asked about Pilot's efforts to reach out to the Congress, Surjewala merely said it would be inappropriate to speak about private conversations in the public.

As the audio recordings were released on Thursday night, Sharma described them as "fake" and asserted that his voice was not on the tapes.

"I have not spoken to any leader, the audio has been released to malign me," Sharma said.