New Delhi:

Former Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje on Saturday attacked the Congress over the crisis triggered by Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot’s revolt against Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, saying that it was unfortunate that the state was paying for the turmoil in the ruling party.

“It is unfortunate that the people of Rajasthan are paying for the discord within the Congress,” she said, going on to list problems that the state is grappling with.

“At a time when COVID-19 has claimed more than 500 lives and positive cases are close to 28,000,” the BJP leader said.

“At a time when locusts are attacking the farmers fields, at time when crime against women is at an all time high, at time when there is problem of electricity,” she said.

“There is no point in trying to drag the BJP and BJP leaders’ names through the mud,” she said over Congress allegations that her party was trying to topple the elected government.

Vasundhara Raje’s statement on the Rajasthan crisis

This is the first time that Ms Raje, the BJP’s most prominent leader in the state, has issued a formal statement on the Congress crisis.

For most of the past week, she has been silent and the BJP has made cautious statements on the Congress turmoil amid allegations that the party is actively backing Sachin Pilot’s rebellion to set up a coup on the lines of Madhya Pradesh.

Hanuman Beniwal, an MP of the Rashtriya Loktantrik Party and a BJP ally in Rajasthan had alleged that the former Chief Minister was trying to help Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, whose Congress government is facing a huge threat because of the mutiny.

“Former Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje has called up Congress MLAs close to her and asked them to support Ashok Gehlot. She has called each and every Jat MLA in Sikar and Nagaur and asked them to keep distance from Sachin Pilot, I have proof of this,” tweeted Hanuman Beniwal, a known of Vasundhara Raje critic who quit the BJP just before the 2018 Rajasthan election, which delivered a Congress victory.

Rajasthan BJP chief Satish Punia said Mr Beniwal had been urged not to make statements like that . “Our leaders spoke to him. Vasundhara Raje is our respected leader,” Mr Punia said.

Ms Raje’s statement comes a day after the Congress said audio clips revealed that rebel MLAs from its party were plotting with the BJP against the state government.