Amid the Rajasthan political crisis, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati said today that state Governor Kalraj Mishra should take cognisance of the instability in the state and recommend President’s Rule.

Mayawati took to Twitter and in a series of tweets (in Hindi) said that CM Ashok Gehlot, had openly violated the Anti-Defection law and cheated the BSP for a second time by getting its MLAs included in the Congress.

“And it is also evident he did an illegal and unconstitutional thing by phone tapping,” Mayawati said in a series of tweets in Hindi.

“The governor  must take cognisance of the political deadlock and instability prevailing in Rajasthan, and should recommend imposition of President’s Rule in the state, so that the condition of democracy in the state does not deteriorate,” she said.

The six Bahujan Samaj Party MLAs in Rajasthan Rajendra Singh Gudha, Jogendra Singh Awana, Wajib Ali, Lakhan Singh Meena, Sandeep Yadav and Deepchand, who flipped over to the Congress last September, formally joined the party in January in Delhi.

The sudden shift of the BSP MLAs towards the Congress in September had jolted BSP chief Mayawati. Her party’s all six members of the Rajasthan Assembly had written to the Speaker C P Joshi and requested him to merge the legislative party with the Congress. With all six joining the Congress, they have bypassed the anti-defection law.

Guda at that time had said that all MLAs had joined the congress to fight “communal forces” and to ensure stability of the state government.

While Congress president Sonia Gandhi had given her in-principle approval for the induction of these MLAs into the party, state Congress chief Sachin Pilot was reportedly not kept in the loop during the entire episode.

Soon after 2018 Assembly election, the BSP had announced to extend support to the Congress from the outside. However, Awana said that it was difficult to give external support to the party.

Mayawati and Congress have strained relations since the Lok Sabha Elections, 2019 when she formed her alliance with Samajwadi Party and excluded the Congress, in Uttar Pradesh from the Mahagathbandhan, and during campaigns criticized the Congress and equated it with BJP.