Rajasthan Crisis: Gehlot alleges horse trading rates higher than ever, shifts MLAs to Jaisalmer

On Thursday Gehlot had alleged that the "rates" for buying MLAs were soaring and on Friday the MLAs were flown in a special flight to the new location where they will stay till August 14 when the Rajasthan Assembly session begins, said an NDTV report.

Gehlot alleged that the rates of horse trading have shot up, from Rs 10 crore in first installment and Rs 15 crore in second installment to "unlimited".

Without naming BJP and his arch rival and rebel Sachin Pilot, he told reporters that everyone knew who is involved in "horse-trading".

After repeated requests to Governor Kalraj Mishra for convening the Rajasthan Assembly session, Gehlot had said "people may gherao the Raj Bhawan" and he along with his MLAs may even go to the Rashtrapati Bhawan.

The Governor, however, stuck to his reasons such as social distancing due to coronavirus, proper seating arrangement to avoid infection spread and live telecast of the floor test if conducted during the session.

Mishra had initially declined a proposal for convening assembly session stating that a floor test was meaningless as the Rajasthan government already had a majority.

On the other hand, Gehlot wanted to come out of the uncertainty surrounding the survival of his government, especially after the Rajasthan unit of BSP with six MLAs merged with Congress.

Gehlot, who claims the support of 102 MLAs, just one more than the majority mark of 101, could be in trouble if 19 MLAs on Rajesh Pilot's side vote against him. He will be able to sail through the confidence vote with the help of six ex-BSP MLAs.

After agreeing to the governor's condition of 21 day notice for summoning an assembly session, the Rajasthan Chief Minister said he could win a floor test anytime, be it after "21 days or 31 days".

However, the rebel camp led by former Deputy Chief Minister Rajesh Pilot reject that and insist that at least 30 MLAs are on their side, but so far, only 19, including Sachin Pilot, have made it official.

Yesterday, Rajasthan High Court served notices to the six former BSP MLAs on petitions filed by BJP and BSP challenging the merger of state unit of BSP with Congress.

Meanwhile, the 19 rebel Congress MLAs have said they will attend the assembly session, reported NDTV. If the rebels do not attend the session they will be disqualified for defying party whip. If these MLAs, whose support Gehlot is still counting on, attend and vote against him, the Congress government could be in trouble.

The rebel MLAS are currently fighting Rajasthan Speaker CP Joshi's moves to get them disqualified based on a Congress complaint alleging anti-party activity.