As all eyes are focussed on Rajasthan’s Raj Bhawan’s decision on calling an Assembly session as sought by Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, and also on rebel Sachin Pilot’s plan of action, an interesting name almost escaped the limelight. According to a news report in The Tribune, Rajasthan police are getting the man accused of ‘horse-trading’ to the resort in Haryana’s Manesar for investigation. The accused has been identified as Sanjay Jain, who has reportedly ‘admitted’ to visiting the resort, reported the Tribune.
Jain is said to be a ‘power broker’ and is well connected with politicians from both the Bharatiya Janata Party, and the Congress leaders. The Rajasthan police investigating the allegations of horse trading is likely to conduct a ‘voice test’ on Jain, to determine if he was the one heard negotiating the money allegedly being offered to politicians to switch camps.
According to the news report, a team of the Rajasthan police’s special operations group (SOG), though unable to “get through to rebel Congress leader Sachin Pilot’s supporters camping in Manesar”, brought Sanjay Jain, to Manesar on Friday night to identify the resort he had visited to allegedly meet the rebel MLAs.
According to the police, as quoted in the media, Jain has not yet accepted that he met anyone there. This then begs the question: why was Jain visiting the resort, which at that time, only had the MLAs as ‘guests’ in residence?
Jain has been named as one of the key accused in the horse-trading case, and the police took him to Best Western Country Inn, which he has reportedly “confessed” to have vitiated before. The news report quotes ADG (SOG) Ashok Rathore on the move, “We brought him here as part of the investigations to confirm if he had come here for a meeting. He himself led us to the other resort near ITC Grand Bharat. He says he came here but did not meet anyone. We are investigating.” Rathore said Jain alias Sanjay Bardia was nabbed a week ago, after his name surfaced in a viral audio clip purportedly mentioning horse-trading of legislators to topple the Ashok Gehlot-led Congress government in Rajasthan.
The Tribune describes Jain as a ‘known power broker’ who hails from Bikaner. According to news reports the Congress had alleged that Jain was a ‘BJP leader’ and even shared his photos with Rajasthan’s former CM Vasundhra Raje. However, according to The Tribune. Jain “is believed to be close to both senior Congress and BJP leaders of the state.”
Tribune quotes its sources as claiming that the accused Jain “had identified and named the staff of the resort who led him in but said there was nobody inside and he met none.” The news report states that the Rajasthan SOG will now conduct a “voice spectrography on July 29, as per the Supreme Court guidelines.” Meanwhile efforts to contact the rebel MLAs continue.
Across the state borders, the Rajasthan High Court has put a status quo in place as it put off giving a verdict in Pilot vs Gehlot case. The HC told the state’s Speaker to maintain the status quo. According to news reports this means that the Speaker CP Joshi is now barred from acting on the July 14 disqualification notices issued to Sachin Pilot and the 18 rebel MLAs’ who support him.
According to a report in the Hindustan Times, the order came after the high court agreed to Pilot’s request to make Centre a party to the case. The application was moved by Pilot on the ground that Tenth Schedule’s constitutional validity was under challenge and therefore, the Union of India was a necessary party.
Meanwhile, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot continues to seek that Governor Kalraj Mishra convene the Assembly Session. Gehlot met the Governor and has continued to stage a protest on the lawns of Raj Bhawan with his supporters, and the MLAs who are a part of his government. This is an unusual situation not seen in any state in recent time where the elected government is seeking an Assembly session this way.
Gehlot is unlikely to back down anytime soon. He stated: “We will succeed…”
हम होंगे कामयाब…✌️ pic.twitter.com/BeoYedUC9C
— Ashok Gehlot (@ashokgehlot51) July 24, 2020
Gehlot has been openly critical of Governor Kalraj Mishra’s delay in convening an Assembly session. According to a report in The Print he has said the session is: “to discuss coronavirus and issues related to the state’s political situation and economy.” Gehlot has alleged that the governor is delaying the Session “under pressure from the top”. The CM has also been seen on multiple news channels as saying that if the Assembly is not convened soon then the people of Rajasthan will express their anger and may even “lay siege to Raj Bhawan” in protest. He added that in that case, “I should not be held responsible”.
He told the media that he “requested the governor through a letter that we want to convene an assembly session and discuss many issues related to the political situation, coronavirus, the aftermath of the lockdown, the economic situation, and other issues. We thought that the governor would give us a go-ahead… but that has not happened.”
Gehlot said they want the assembly session to begin Monday and has claimed a “full majority.”
Meanwhile the Governor continues to keep his plan of action a secret, though he has acknowledged meeting Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot.
मुख्यमंत्री श्री अशोक गहलोत मिले pic.twitter.com/RhDzAWBHbY
— कलराज मिश्र (Kalraj Mishra) (@KalrajMishra) July 24, 2020
Related:
Sachin Pilot grounded by Congress
Sachin Pilot’s next move: Will he, won’t he?