Rajasthan CM Gehlot attends Iftar amid political face-off over Alwar temple demolition

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Friday tweeted images of him attending an Iftar party in Jaipur amid a political face-off and public outcry over the demolition of the 300-year-old Alwar temple and dozens of homes.

"Attended Roza Iftar organised by Rajasthan State Haj Committee at Haj House, Ramgarh Mod, Karbala (Jaipur)," Ashok Gehlot tweeted in Hindi while sharing pictures of him and Congress state chief Govind Singh Dotasra having iftar.

BJP, Congress trade charges over Temple demolition in Alwar's Rajgarh

The Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress on Friday traded charges over the demolition of a 300-year-old temple during an anti-encroachment drive in Alwar's Rajgarh town. While the Saffron party has accused Congress of being behind the demolition, state Congress chief Dotasra asserted that it was a decision of the city's municipality which is headed by the saffron party.

Slamming Ashok Gehlot's government, BJP MP Kirodi Lal Meena sought an explanation from Rahul Gandhi, who earlier called the running of bulldozers on illegal encroachments in Jahangirpuri a "demolition of India’s constitutional values."

"Congress is being a hypocrite. They are doing khilafat in Jahangirpuri and Rahul Gandhi is claiming that the bulldozer is running on the constitution. So what is running here? Rahul Gandhi should explain," Kirodi Lal Meena said.

BJP Rajasthan chief Dr Satish Poonia has constituted a five-member committee for a factual probe of the Alwar temple case. "This committee will go to the spot, prepare a factual report and submit the report to me," he said.

The Congress state chief accused BJP of misleading people and playing politics over religion. He said that even during the rule of the last BJP government headed by Vasundhara Raje, hundreds of temples were demolished in Jaipur. He claimed that the proposal of demolition was passed by the Rajgarh municipality board headed by the BJP which alone is responsible for the demolitions.

Image: Twitter/@ashokgehlot51