Rift internal issue of Cong, tracking developments: BJP

NEWDELHI: Even as the Bharatiya Janata Party maintained that it was only watching the Rajasthan developments and had no role in the intra-congress crisis, it used the opportunity to criticise the Congress leadership, particularly the Gandhi family.

Talking to the media, party leader and Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament (MP), Om Mathur, distanced the BJP from the rumblings in the state and dubbed the fallout between chief minister Ashok Gehlot and his deputy, Sachin Pilot, as an “internal issue” of the Congress.

The BJP has refrained from making any statements to imply its keenness in staking claim to forming government in the state for two reasons, according to a person familiar with the matter.

For one, the party does not have the required numbers to do so. In the 200-member assembly, it only has 72 MLAS and needs 101 to reach the half-way mark, and is not sure if Sachin Pilot has the numbers . “We are tracking the developments, but there are no plans underway to stake claim to form the government, unless there is a clean break in the Congress unit in the state and the CM falls short of majority,” said a senior party functionary.

Second, it is treading cautiously to avoid a repeat of how things unfurled in Uttarakhand in 2016 and in Maharashtra last year.

Union minister Gajendra Shekhawat took a dig at Rahul Gandhi and tweeted, “Those who offered knowledge to the Prime Minister on the Indiachina stand-off have failed to resolve their dispute today!”

Congress spokesperson Jaiveer Shergill said the BJP needed to introspect about its own behaviour rather than critique the Congress.