As the Congress’ never-ending internal feud continued to play out in Rajasthan, AICC observers Mallikarjun Kharge and Rajasthan in-charge Ajay Maken returned to Delhi after spending a day in vain in the western state to placate the crisis that emerged following chief minister Ashok Gehlot’s announcement that he would contest for the party president’s post.
Both Maken and Kharge told reporters that they would submit a report to the party’s top leadership later in the day. They had held a meeting with Gehlot loyalists Pratap Khachariyawas and Shanti Dhariwal in Jaipur on Sunday.
Kamal Nath in Delhi
Senior leader Kamal Nath has been reportedly summoned to Delhi by the party high command in the wake of the crisis, a similar which he could not handle in his own state leading to the fall of the Congress government and the flight of aa number of MLAs and Jyotiraditya Scindia to the BJP. Nath is set to meet party chief Sonia Gandhi.
Read live updates on the crisis here
Nath, who heads the party’s Madhya Pradesh unit, is known to have close ties with the Rajasthan chief minister and could be asked to broker a truce.
Meanwhile, legislators loyal to Gehlot have been vocal about their issues even as MLAs close to Sachin Pilot, who is looking to take the CM’s post, has refrained from commenting. Pilot had spent hours at the CM’s residence on Sunday evening.
Pilot had rebelled against the Gehlot-led Rajasthan government in July 2020, camped with his loyalist MLAs in Haryana in an apparent show of strength but could not topple the Gehlot government. (PTI)
Gehlot loyalists in focus
MLAs loyal to Gehlot have said they have put forth demands before the observers that any decision on the chief ministerial face should be taken after the party president election on October 19 and in consultation with Gehlot.
Also read | Cong committee asks Sonia to pull Gehlot out of party prez race: Report
Khachariyawas, a state minister, said Congress workers are attempting to save their party and have to be prepared to “spill blood on the roads” against the BJP which he alleged, wants to “topple” the state government.
“The BJP wants to topple the Rajasthan government. I have told Ashok Gehlot that it is important to save the government, you have to perform witchcraft. The BJP will eye Rajasthan to divert attention from inflation. They did it in Maharashtra. If we don’t respond with courage, there will be fights on the streets. The Congress workers will have to spill blood on the roads. I had said it earlier to Gehlot that the BJP is prepared and there is a conspiracy underway against the government,” he was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
He said the party workers will hit the streets of Rajasthan when central agencies are sent to the state. “We will have an equal fight. If the BJP uses stick, we will respond. If they fire at us, we will respond. But if MLAs want to save government against BJP’s conspiracy, then they should be heard,” he added.
The leader, however, denied any factionalism in the Congress party and said that all MLAs have the right to express their opinion.
“There is no factionalism in Congress. Every MLA has the right to put forth his view on democracy. If the MLAs united at the residence of the parliamentary affairs minister and said something, they did not commit any crime. They were the same MLAs who saved the government on the call of Sonia Gandhi. There is no opposition of Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Ashok Gehlot,” the Congress leader said.
Also read | Amid tussle over Gehlot’s likely successor, loyalist MLAs submit resignations
When asked about Maken’s statement on issuing notices to MLAs for their “undisciplined move”, Khachariyawas said, “If any notice is issued, we will respond to it.”
Earlier in the day, Maken dubbed the “unofficial” meeting conducted by Dhariwal with the MLAs of the Gehlot camp an “indisciplined move”, while also stating that the party has never allowed “conditional resolutions” to take place, as against the demands by the group.
(With agenc )
