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Congress leader TS Singh Deo questions Gehlot: 'If his MLAs don't listen to him...'
Senior Congress leader and Rajasthan minister TS Singh Deo asked if Ashok Gehlot can't control his MLAs, then how he will be able to control the party as the president.
Chhattisgarh minister and senior Congress leader TS Singh Deo who himself was caught in a turf war with chief minister Bhupsh Baghel commented on the ongoing political crisis in Rajasthan and asked if Ashok Gehlot can't control his MLAs, how he will possibly lead the party. "If MLAs from his state do not listen to him, then how will the party leaders obey him as Congress president," the senior Congress leader said after the inside report of the party into the Rajasthan stalemate blamed three MLAs for the indiscipline and gave a clean chit to Ashok Gehlot.
On Tuesday, Gehlot held an informal meeting with a few ministers and party MLAs at his residence. Congress president Sonia Gandhi may meet Ashok Gehlot either today or tomorrow to resolve the issue which is linked with the Congress party election scheduled to be held next month -- Gehlot being a likely candidate in the election.
On Sunday, Gehlot loyalists submitted their resignation letters to block Sachin Pilot from becoming the chief minister and choose someone from the Gehlot camp as the chief minister -- once Gehlot resigns from the post to contest in the party election. The rebellion put Gehlot's contest in the party poll in uncertainty, but the internal report blaming the MLAs for the rebellion shifts the blame from Gehlot.
Rajasthan ministers Shanti Dhariwal and Mahesh Joshi, and Dharmendra Rathore have been issued show cause notice for their 'grave indiscipline'.
Sachin Pilot, meanwhile, arrived in Delhi on Tuesday but he denied reports of meeting with the party high command.
Gehlot versus Pilot in Rajasthan
When the Congress called a Legislature Party meeting at Gehlot's residence on Sunday to address the issue of the Rajasthan leadership in the situation of Gehlot contesting the Congress president election, 82 MLAs participated in a parallel meeting and came up with the conditions to the Congress leadership. Party's chief whip in the state Mahesh Joshi, who is among the three offenders identified in the internal report, said the meeting was not to mount pressure on the high command, as has been described. "I am saying again and again that speaking your mind is not mounting pressure. We have not created any pressure on the high command but have tried to express our views. Whatever decision the leadership takes, we will obey it," he said.
