We Can Return To Power Only If...: Rajasthan Congress MLA On Sachin Pilot's Leadership
Sachin Pilot on Wednesday said that a decision on the party's affairs in Rajasthan needs to be made quickly if the trend of alternate governments is to be stopped.
New Delhi: Congress MLA Ved Prakash Solanki on Wednesday praised Senior Congress leader Sachin Pilot and said he would not oppose if Pilot is made the chief minister, reported news agency ANI. "If Sachin Pilot is made the CM face, only then will the govt. be repeated. This is the demand of Rajasthan’s youth, and the public. And I again repeat that I stand with him. As without him, I won’t have been elected," said Congress MLA Ved Prakash Solanki.
Jaipur, Rajasthan | If Sachin Pilot is made the CM face, only then will the govt. be repeated. This is the demand of Rajasthan’s youth, and the public. And I again repeat that I stand with him. As without him, I won’t have been elected: Ved Prakash Solanki, Congress MLA pic.twitter.com/LzSp2wxen3
— ANI MP/CG/Rajasthan (@ANI_MP_CG_RJ) February 16, 2023
Earlier on Wednesday, Pilot said that the leadership has been "inordinately slow" in taking action against those who "defied" then-president Sonia Gandhi by refusing to allow a legislature party meeting to take place. He also said that a decision on the party's affairs in Rajasthan needs to be made quickly if the trend of alternate governments is to be stopped.
Pilot said that the AICC disciplinary committee under A K Antony, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, and the leadership can best explain why there has been an "unprecedented delay" in a decision on the matter, referring to the show cause notices that were served on three loyalists of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot more than four months ago for holding a gathering parallel to the CLP meeting.
"The legislative party meeting was called on September 25 by the chief minister (Ashok Gehlot) in Jaipur; that meeting did not take place. The central observers Ajay Maken and Kharge were there. Whatever would have happened in the meeting is a separate issue, agreement or disagreement, but the meeting was not allowed to take place," Pilot told PTI in an interview.
The former deputy chief minister stated that notices of "prima facie indiscipline" were served on those responsible for not holding that meeting and holding a parallel gathering.
The media has informed me that they have responded to those notices. The All India Congress Committee (AICC) has not taken any action or decision as of yet.
Pilot stated, "I am told through the media that they have replied to those notices. So far, there has been no decision or action taken by the AICC (All India Congress Committee). I think the disciplinary committee under Antony and the Congress president and leadership can best answer as to why there has been such a long delay in a decision."
Pilot asserted that the speaker had filed an affidavit with the Rajasthan High Court stating that 81 resignations had been received, with a few being personally given to him.
The speaker's affidavit to the high court states that some of the resignations were photocopies, and the rest were rejected because they were not given "out of their free will."
He added that this was the reason the speaker turned down these resignations.
"Since the resignations were rejected because they were not given under free will. And If they were not given under free will then under whose pressure they were given? Was there a threat, allurement or pressure... So perhaps that is a matter of further investigations by the party," Pilot asserted.
"We are heading towards an election very soon, the budget has also been presented, and the party leadership has said many times that it would take a decision on how to move forward. Whatever decisions have to be taken about the Congress party in Rajasthan, should be taken as we are looking at polls at the end of the year," Pilot said.
He emphasized the significance of this if Congress is to break the 25-year cycle of Congress and BJP alternate governments in the state.
"We are battle ready," Prime Minister Narendra Modi stated, referring to the Congress' need to "hit the ground running and galvanise workers."
"It was under the direction of the then Congress president Sonia Gandhi ji that the CLP meeting was called so this was open defiance and non-compliance of the party directive," Pilot said.
"Discipline and the party line are the same for everybody who or she he may be... It does not matter if you are big or small, discipline is paramount and that is what (AICC in-charge Rajasthan) Sukhjinder Randhawa had been asserting," Pilot said.
"People who defied the party at that time in September, so many months have gone by, Congress workers are asking that this inordinate delay, what does this signify, the party should take a call and that Antony, Kharge and the party leadership should look into it," he reiterated his stand.
Maken had failed to convene a meeting of MLAs in September to pass a one-sentence resolution authorising the Congress president to appoint a new Rajasthan leader.
After meeting then-party chief Sonia Gandhi, Gehlot publicly apologised for failing to pass the resolution and opted out of the race for Congress president.
Dharmendra Rathore, Shanti Dhariwal, and Mahesh Joshi, the party's chief whip in the assembly, had received show-cause notices from the party. Despite the MLAs' responses to the charges against them, the party has not responded to the notices.
Following Maken's resignation in November, Rajasthan was given to Randhawa.
Maken cited the events of September 25 in a letter to party president Kharge on November 8 and asked the party chief to appoint someone in his place.
Following Gehlot's remarks that Pilot is a "gaddar" (traitor) and cannot succeed him, a significant disagreement erupted once more in December.
Pilot had a sharp reaction to Gehlot's comments, saying that Gehlot's use of that kind of language was unworthy of him and that "mud-slinging" would not help at a time when attention should be on the Kanyakumari-Kashmir Bharat Jodo Yatra.
K C Venugopal's visit to the desert state calmed tensions, and in a show of unity, both Pilot and Gehlot posed for the cameras alongside the AICC general secretary. The escalation of the Gehlot-Pilot rift occurred just before the yatra entered the state.
The 81 MLAs who had submitted resignation letters to Rajasthan assembly speaker CP Joshi during the crisis in September have withdrawn, the Rajasthan assembly secretary informed the high court in January.
In response to a writ petition, the assembly speaker's resignations on September 25 were not voluntary and had been withdrawn, according to the Rajasthan High Court.
Within days of the march crossing the state, the power struggle between Gehlot and Pilot, which appeared to have thawed briefly during the Bharat Jodo Yatra, has resumed, with the two leaders sparring once more.
Many saw Pilot's announcement of a series of public outreach events last month as a sign of strength and a reminder to the high command that his complaints have not been addressed.
Pilot had cornered the Gehlot government over issues like the repeated paper leaks and political appointments of retired bureaucrats while sidelining party workers in his speeches at several rallies.
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