Panel pulls up 3 MLAs, does not blame Gehlot | Latest News India - Hindustan Times
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Panel pulls up 3 MLAs, does not blame Gehlot

By, New Delhi
Sep 27, 2022 11:42 PM IST

A Congress panel on Tuesday accused three Rajasthan legislators of indiscipline but didn’t blame Ashok Gehlot for the turmoil, people aware of developments said, potentially giving the observers and the chief minister some manoeuvring space to resolve the crisis engulfing the party and its upcoming presidential poll.

A Congress panel on Tuesday accused three Rajasthan legislators of indiscipline but didn’t blame Ashok Gehlot for the turmoil, people aware of developments said, potentially giving the observers and the chief minister some manoeuvring space to resolve the crisis engulfing the party and its upcoming presidential poll.

Gehlot (back to camera) meets ministers and MLAs in Jaipur. (ANI)
Gehlot (back to camera) meets ministers and MLAs in Jaipur. (ANI)

The report came on a day the party’s old guard appeared to be coalescing in Delhi to navigate the turmoil and senior leader Sachin Pilot flew to the Capital to meet party chief Sonia Gandhi. A meeting between Gandhi and Gehlot is also in the offing over the next few days, the people quoted above said.

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“There is nothing adverse in the report about Gehlot. The CM was with central observers,” said a Congress leader on condition of anonymity. But the report — authored by central observers Ajay Maken and Mallikarjun Kharge — criticised the role of state cabinetminister Shanti Dhariwal, who called a meeting of 90-odd legislators on Sunday evening to flag their opposition to Pilot as the next CM, should Gehlot be elected Congress chief in the October 17 internal poll.

“Dhariwal was among those who called a parallel meeting which led to a boycott of the meeting called at the CM’s residence. It recommends disciplinary action to be taken against him and all those involved,” said the leader quoted above. Hours after the nine-page report was submitted to Gandhi, the Congress sent show-cause notices to Dhariwal, the parliamentary affairs minister, Mahesh Joshi, the chief whip of the party in Rajasthan, and Dharmendra Rathore, chairman of the state tourism corporation.

The crisis began late on Sunday when Maken and Kharge landed in Jaipur to hold a Congress legislature party (CLP) meeting, which was to virtually formalise the transfer of power from Gehlot to Pilot in the state by passing a resolution authorising Gandhi to pick the next CM.

But 92 lawmakers, ostensibly loyal to Gehlot, gathered at Dhariwal’s residence instead, and said they either wanted Gehlot to continue or have the chance to pick his successor in the state. Eventually, even as the Congress leaders and Pilot waited at the chief minister’s residence, the CLP meeting was scuttled as the lawmakers drove to the residence of speaker CP Joshi and handed in a joint resignation letter.

The report termed these resignations a “pressure tactic” and said it was felt that no one was going to leave the party over this issue, said the people quoted above. “The MLAs seem to have acted under the impression that the CM was becoming the party president,” said the leader quoted above.

In crisis, the Congress leadership sent for its old guard. Former defence minister AK Antony, 81, the chief of the party’s disciplinary committee, was summoned to Delhi by Gandhi, a day after senior leader Kamal Nath flew to the Capital. “The party president has requested Antony to reach the Capital at the earliest. It seems Sonia Gandhi has sought his help to solve the impasse in Rajasthan,” a second senior party leader said, seeking anonymity. Nath is also expected to act as a bridge between Gehlot and the party leadership, and possibly even emerge as a contender for the presidential poll.

The unexpected defiance of the Rajasthan legislators — who have said they oppose Pilot because he led an unsuccessful rebellion against Gehlot in 2020 — is seen as an affront to the party leadership and this is reflected in the report, said the first leader.

The lawmakers had put forth three conditions — a decision on the selection of the chief minister should be taken after the Congress presidential poll, the chief minister should be from among those MLAs who stood with the government during the political crisis in 2020 and not from the Pilot camp, and the observers should hold meetings in groups, instead of one-on-one as sought by the high-command. The report said all three conditions were unacceptable.

The show cause notice to Dhariwal said that he went ahead and organised a meeting at his residence despite being parliamentary affairs minister, confusing some lawmakers. That against Joshi said that as chief whip he called the CLP meeting, then boycotted it himself and attended the meeting in Dhariwal’s residence; and that against Rathore pulls him up for handling the logistics for the meeting in Dhariwal’s residence.

Rajasthan is one of only two states where the Congress is in power on its own, and goes to the polls in 14 months. In the 200-member assembly, the Congress has 108, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) 71 and others eight, apart from 13 independents. The Gehlot government has the backing of 126 lawmakers.

Until the weekend, Gehlot was certain to file his nomination for the presidential poll, the period for which ends on September 30. But the unexpected rebellion cast a cloud over his candidature. “He was fighting because they asked him to. So he awaits word from the high command about what to do next,’’ said an aide to the CM, on condition of anonymity.

Gehlot spent the day meeting lawmakers and members of his cabinet. A handful of lawmakers who attended the meeting said they were misled.

Dhariwal rejected Maken’s claim that the CLP meeting was called on Gehlot’s request, and accused Maken of being part of a conspiracy to appoint Pilot as the chief minister. He sought Maken’s removal as Congress’s Rajasthan in charge.

“[Maken] was talking to the MLAs here in a partisan manner. For many days, there were continuous reports that he was campaigning in favour of Pilot. He asked MLAs to join him [Pilot] and we have proof of this,” Dhariwal said.

Meanwhile, Sachin Pilot who reached Delhi on Monday is yet to speak about Sunday’s developments.

Pilot flew to Kerala last week to participate in the Bharat Jodo Yatra with Rahul Gandhi. Legislators close to Gehlot saw it as a signal that Pilot enjoyed the trust of the Gandhi family and could be their nominee for the chief minister’s post.

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  • ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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    Sunetra Choudhury is the National Political Editor of the Hindustan Times. With over two decades of experience in print and television, she has authored Black Warrant (Roli,2019), Behind Bars: Prison Tales of India’s Most Famous (Roli,2017) and Braking News (Hachette, 2010). Sunetra is the recipient of the Red Ink award in journalism in 2016 and Mary Morgan Hewett award in 2018.

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