Cong MLAs holed up in Jaipur to meet again today
| Date :14-Jul-2020 |
Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot (C) with senior Congress leaders Randeep Surjewala, Avinash Pandey, Ajay Maken and K C Venugopal flashes victory sign during a meeting with the party MLAs at his residence in Jaipur on Monday. (PTI)
JAIPUR :
Congress party leaders claimed 106 legislators were there in meeting at Gehlot’s home. At least seven MLAs considered close to Pilot were not spotted at the CM’s house
Pilot said he has the support of over 30 MLAs
Sources said the Gandhi family and top leaders of Congress were in touch with Pilot
ED, I-T raids conducted on people close to Rajasthan CM Gehlot
THE Rajasthan Congress Legislature Party will once again meet on Tuesday, said party spokesperson Randeep Surejewala while urging State Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot to come and discuss issues with an “open mind”. The meeting will be held at the hotel on the Delhi highway where the party MLAs are currently lodged. “The CLP meeting will be held on Tuesday.
We request Sachin Pilot and all other MLAs to come. We will also give them in writing to come and discuss the issues,” Surjewala told reporters here. “They are requested to come and discuss how we can strengthen Rajasthan together and serve its eight crore people,” Surjewala said, adding that if there are any issues, these should be discussed “with an open mind”. “Sonia Gandhi (national party President) and Rahul Gandhi are ready to listen to everyone and find a solution,” he said. Surjewala expressed hope that Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, his deputy Sachin Pilot and the MLAs will take part in the meeting to discuss the problems. “I am hopeful of finding a solution to the BJP’s conspiracy and the attack on the democratic set-up,” he told reporters outside the hotel on Monday night.
Congress MLAs on Monday holed themselves up in a resort near Jaipur after a legislature party meeting, where they expressed support for Gehlot and only indirectly referred to Sachin Pilot, whose rebellion threatens his Government. A resolution adopted at the Congress Legislature Party meeting urged “strong disciplinary action” against any party office-bearer or CLP member who does anything to weaken the Government or the party. But the resolution stopped short of naming Pilot, who is the Deputy Chief Minister and also heads the State unit of the party. Before the meeting, senior Congress leader Randeep Surjewala also adopted a conciliatory tone, saying Pilot and other MLAs could still attend the CLP meeting from which they had distanced themselves.
Sources said Congress President Sonia Gandh, former party chief Rahul Gandhi, and Priyanka Gandhi were in touch with Pilot, upset since he was denied the Rajasthan Chief Minister’s post after the December 2018 Assembly elections. Besides Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi, other Congress leaders who are learnt to have spoken with Pilot are Ahmed Patel, former Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram and AICC General Secretary K C Venugopal.
There was no official word on the number of MLAs who attended the meeting at Gehlot’s home, but party leaders claimed 106 legislators were there. If correct, this staves off the immediate challenge posed by Pilot, who claimed on Sunday night that he has the support of over 30 of 107 Congress MLAs in the 200-member assembly. But at least seven MLAs considered close to Pilot were not spotted at the CM’s house. In the 200-member assembly, the Congress has 107 MLAs and the BJP 72. In the past, the ruling party has claimed the support of 13 independents, two MLAs each from the CPM and the Bharatiya Tribal Party, and one from the Rashtriya Lok Dal. Hours before the CLP meeting, Income Tax and Enforcement Directorate teams raided multiple premises connected to people from Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot’s camp. Searches were underway in offices of veteran State Congress leaders, including Rajeev Arora and Dharmendra Rathod, considered close to the Chief Minister.
Unaccounted cash, jewellery, property papers and lockers were seized. The team also reached Bhilwara and Jhalawad to carry out searches, officials said. The CLP resolution blamed the BJP for the crisis. On Saturday, Gehlot had accused the Opposition party of trying to lure away Congress MLAs. The resolution demanded strong disciplinary action against any Congress office bearer or CLP member who “directly or indirectly” acted against the party. Addressing a press conference before the meeting, AICC spokesperson Randeep Surjewala indicated that Pilot and his supporters were still welcome to attend it. “Doors are open for Sachin Pilot and other MLAs,” he said.
He said the party’s top leadership spoke to Pilot several times in the last 72 hours. Surjewala said differences in a family can be resolved within the family, suggesting that Pilot and other MLAs should come and discuss their grievances at party forums. “When a member of the family gets annoyed, he does not make the family fall but sits with family members and resolves the issue,” he said. “Doors are open for Sachin Pilot and other MLAs. They will be heard and solutions will be found. This is the discipline of the party,” the AICC spokesperson said. The Congress had rushed Pande, Surjewala and Ajay Maken to Jaipur as observers at the meeting, amid a power tussle between its two Rajasthan leaders. The party had issued a whip ahead of the CLP meeting, indicating disciplinary action against any MLA who failed to turn up. In a statement, Pilot, however, had made clear that he would not attend the meeting.
He also claimed that he had the support of over 30 Congress MLAs and some independents. The current crisis began on Friday night when the Rajasthan Police sent a notice to Pilot, asking him to record his statement over an alleged attempt to bring down the Government. The same notice was sent to the Chief Minister and some other MLAs, but Pilot’s supporters claimed that it was only meant to humiliate him. The notices were sent after police tapped the phone conversation of two men allegedly talking about toppling the Congress Government.