Hours after Sachin Pilot demanded action against the Rajasthan Congress MLAs who rebelled in September and also, took a dig at the Ashok Gehlot over Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s praise on Tuesday, the chief minister on Wednesday advised that “they” should not make such remarks and everyone should follow discipline.
Breaking his silence over the political crisis in Rajasthan months back, Pilot had suggested the party will soon take action against those who were given notices by the AICC for indiscipline. He also said Modi praised Gehlot at a programme on Tuesday, adding that this was “interesting and should not be taken lightly”.
Reacting to Pilot’s statement, Gehlot, who is in Alwar, said, “They should not make such remarks. KC Venugopal has asked everybody in the party to not make any such remarks. We want that everybody should follow discipline.”
“Currently, we should have one objective…the public is suffering in the country…there is tension, violence, inflation and unemployment; and for the same Rahul Gandhi is working hard walking kilometres every day to mount pressure on the government of India,” he added.
Thereafter, the focus should be on how to retain the government in Rajasthan, Gehlot said. “We have brought so many schemes in the state, which has never happened in the state. We have started work to retain the government on good governance,” said the chief minister told the media.
Talking to reporters in Jaipur, Pilot expects Congress’s new president Mallikarjun Kharge would take action against the MLAs in the state who rebelled against the party.
“The Congress is an old party with the same rules for everyone, no matter how senior. I am sure new president Mallikarjun Kharge will take action,” Pilot said, adding that party observer KC Venugopal had said a decision on “the Rajasthan situation” will be taken soon too.
“Ajay Maken and Kharge (observers) have taken the matter seriously and assessing it, the AICC observed that it’s a case of indiscipline. The party had sent notices to three and it came to know that they have already responded. But since the Congress is an old party with the same rules for everyone, action will be taken against them soon,” the former Rajasthan deputy CM said.
He, however, said Gehlot had apologised to the then party chief Sonia Gandhi for the defiance his loyalists showed.
In September, several MLAs loyal to Gehlot, who was seen as the frontrunner for the post of the Congress national president, had submitted resignation letters over a possible move to appoint Pilot as the next chief minister. Gehlot later announced that he would not contest the Congress presidential polls as he took moral responsibility for the political crisis in his state.
Pilot took a dig at the chief minister over praise by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“It’s interesting that the PM praised (CM) yesterday. It mustn’t be taken lightly. Because the PM similarly praised Gulam Nabi Azad in the Parliament and we all saw what happened,” he said.
