MLA of Rajasthan Cong’s Ally BTP Alleges Intimidation

BTP MLA Rajkumar Roat, alleged that police held him hostage and chased his car while he was trying to leave Jaipur.

A screengrab of Bhartiya Tribal Party MLA Rajkumar Roat.

(Photo: Twitter/@Chhotubhai Vasava)

With Sachin Pilot rebelling against his own government in Rajasthan and later getting sacked as the deputy chief minister, two more MLAs from a regional party, Bhartiya Tribal Party (BTP), withdrew support from the Congress on Tuesday, 14 July, NDTV reported.

In a video released, one of the BTP MLAs, Rajkumar Roat, alleged that police held him hostage and chased his car while he along with others was trying to leave Jaipur.

He alleged that his car key was also snatched by the police.

(Catch all the live updates on Rajasthan political crisis here.)

“The situation right now...it is almost as if we are hostages. For three days we were in the MLA quarters (in Jaipur). Many said come with us, come with us...Today, three-four police cars followed me when I went out to the constituency.”

Rajkumar Roat, BTP Legislator, as quoted by NDTV

Later, in the evening, one more video released by him showed Police taking away his car keys, as he requested saying it was hot and he would not run away.

It can be seen in the video released by the news agency ANI that the police declined to give him the car keys and cited "khatra (Danger)".

It is not clear if the MLAs were finally able to leave the state capital or not.

Earlier on Monday, BTP chief Mahesh Bhai Vasava wrote to the two MLAs asking them to abstain in the event of a trust vote in the assembly. They had earlier declared support for the Ashopk Gehlot faction in the state.

(With inputs from NDTV & ANI)