'Bhanwar Lal Sharma conspiring with Sachin Pilot to topple govt'; MLA refutes CM Ashok Gehlot camp's claim

In a fresh twist to the political crisis in Rajasthan, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot's loyalists have alleged that Congress MLA and former cabinet minister Bhanwarlal Sharma was making his fifth attempt to topple the state government along with former Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot.

However, MLA Bhanwar Lal Sharma has refuted the allegations.

Gehlot's Officer on Special Duty (OSD) Lokesh Sharma in a statement on Thursday said that Pilot and Bhanwar Lal Sharma were conspiring to topple the Gehlot-government in the State.

"Former minister and MLA Bhanwarlal Sharma made several attempts to topple the government while staying in and out of the BJP during the 1990s. This is his fifth attempt to topple the government along with Sachin Pilot. But they were never successful," the statement read.

Now, Bhanwarlal Sharma has again joined a conspiracy with Sachin Pilot and broke the party and started seeing the dreams of forming a government with the help of BJP, the statement alleged.

Audio clips in which the MLA purportedly conspires to topple Ashok Gehlot led Rajasthan government under the influence of Sachin Pilot also surfaced online.

Bhanwar Lal Sharma, however on Thursday refuted the allegations and in a video, statement said: "Audio that has gone viral is fake. The Officer on Special Duty to Chief Minister, Lokesh Sharma is trying to pressurise MLAs by getting fake audios made as Chief Minister Gehlot is in despair."

Rajasthan Congress continues to remain in turmoil after simmering differences between Pilot and Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot came out in the open. Pilot was, on July 14, also sacked from the posts of Rajasthan Deputy Chief Minister and state PCC president.

Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has blamed the BJP for attempting to destabilise the state government by poaching MLAs.

A controversy had broken out in Rajasthan after Special Operation Group (SOG) sent a notice to Pilot to record his statement in the case registered by SOG in the alleged poaching of Congress MLAs in the state.

( With inputs from ANI )