Jaipur, Dec 11 (IANS): Giving a major shock to the ruling Congress party in Rajasthan, the Bharatiya Tribal Party on Friday announced it is withdrawing support to the government.

Talking to IANS, BTP MLA Rajkumar Rout said, "It was quite surprising to see the Congress supporting the BJP to defeat the BTP in Dungarpur Zila parishad polls. We are elected representatives and people in our constituency are now questioning us over why should we support Congress who can go to any level to mark its victory. Hence, it becomes our moral responsibility to take a final call," he said.

It needs to be mentioned here that out of 27 seats in zila parishad in Dungarpur, 13 BTP supporters had marked a victory. Similarly, Congress grabbed 6 seats while BJP candidates won 8 seats.

BJP's Surya Ahaari was made to fill the form of independent and she was supported by both Congress and BJP which took her total count as 14. As it was 1-mark higher than Parvati, who was BTP candidate, Surya was declared winner in the polls.

The entire episode left the BTP shocked and hence they announced a separation from Congress.

The two BTP MLAs had supported the Congress during the Rajya Sabha polls as well as during the political crisis in July when veteran leader Sachin Pilot openly questioned the party leadership.

A few days ago Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot had announced that the BJP is playing the game of toppling the Rajasthan government.

At present the Congress has 105 MLAs in Assembly while BJP has 71. The Rashtriya Loktantrik Party has 3 MLAs while the BTP has two MLAs, the CPIM has two, the RLD 1 and 13 MLAs are independents supporting the Congress. This takes the Congress' tally to 118.

The BJP camp with 71 MLAs and with 3 RLP MLAs supporting it, has 74 members.

Three seats are lying vacant after the death of Kiran maheshwari (BJP), Kailash Trivedi (Congress) and Master Bhanwarlal (Congress).

The Congress entered crisis mode in July when Pilot with his MLAs (18) went to Delhi demanding a change in leadership as its total tally neared 100. However, the BTP supported the party in the floor test.

Further, Congress on Wednesday tasted a humiliating defeat in zila parishad polls and Gehlot termed Covid as the reason for this defeat.

Gehlot said in a statement, "The results of the district council and panchayat polls are not as per our expectations. For the past nine months, our government was involved in Covid management and our priority was to save lives and livelihoods of the people."

"Due to Coronavirus, we could not publicise our works while the opposition misled the people. But we will give a befitting reply to the opposition, considering the feedback from the people," he added.