Vasundhra helping Gehlot, claims BJP ally Hanuman Beniwal, says he has proof

Vibha Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 16

In yet another curious turn of events in the Rajasthan political imbroglio, National Convener of Rashtriya Loktantrik Party Hanuman Beniwal on Thursday accused senior BJP leader and former Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje of “trying to save the Ashok Gehlot government”.

Beniwal, who represents Nagaur in the Lok Sabha and is a NDA ally, claimed Raje is “making all efforts to save the minority government of Ashok Gehlot” and that she “had also rung up many Congress leaders in this context”. 

Beniwal also alleged that Raje called up her loyalists in the BJP and told them to support Gehlot. He said he had the proof of the former BJP CM “telling Jat MLAs from Sikar and Nagaur to keep distance from Sachin Pilot”. 

Beniwal said people of the state are well aware of the close association between Raje and Gehlot and how they try to cover up each other’s “corruption”.

The “silence” of Raje in the ongoing political tussle in Rajasthan is the talk of the town. 

The senior BJP leader, who is believed to have a mind of her own on what is being read largely as a “Delhi- sponsored programme”, is yet to speak on the ongoing crisis in her home state Rajasthan, unlike other prominent BJP leaders like Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Om Mathur and Gulab Chand Kataria

Raje’s hold over BJP MLAs and State unit is well known, how she held her ground in 2018 against someone as powerful as Amit Shah, the then BJP president, over the selection of the State unit chief. Shah wanted to appoint Shekhawat but after weeks-long stalemate, a middle path was adopted in the way of Madan Lal Saini.