JAIPUR: Rajasthan Congress chief whip Mahesh Joshi and Rajasthan Transport Development Corporation chairman Dharmendra Rathore, the two of the three Ashok Gehlot loyalists issued notice for indiscipline, have rebutted the charge and insisted that they had nothing to do with the shock rebellion by 92 of the 108 lawmakers who skipped a party legislature meeting that was to authorise Congress president Sonia Gandhi to pick the next chief minister.
Dhariwal was the third party leader to be issued notice, and has already denied the charge that he engineered the boycott of the party meeting on September 25 and organised a parallel meeting at his house. Dhariwal has said no invites were issued and 92 of the 108 MLAs turned up at his house on their own.
Mahesh Joshi and Dharmendra Rathore took the same line in their response. Joshi is learnt to have said that it was not unusual for MLAs to meet ministers and that whatever happened was because of the situation that was created.
The rebellion came to the fore late on Sunday when central observers Ajay Maken and Mallikarjun Kharge turned up in Jaipur to hold a Congress legislature party (CLP) meeting, which was to formalise the transfer of power from Ashok Gehlot to Sachin Pilot in the state by passing a resolution authorising Gandhi to pick the next CM.
It had been made clear to Gehlot that he couldn’t become the party president and hold the chief minister’s post.
But 92 of the 108 lawmakers skipped the party meeting and instead gathered at minister Shanti Dhariwal’s residence. They said they either wanted Gehlot to continue or have the chance to pick his successor. Eventually, the CLP meeting was scuttled as the lawmakers handed in a joint resignation letter.
Four days later on September 30, Gehlot pulled out of the race to become the next party president and tendered an apology for his inability to control his loyalists. By then, Rajasthan ministers Shanti Dhariwal and Mahesh Joshi, and the state-run tourism corporation chief Dharmendra Rathore, had been issued notice for their “grave indiscipline”.