Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra will pass through Rajasthan in the cold days of December but political temperature within the party is high, with leaders supporting former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot demanding solutions to existing issues.
Even as infighting between the Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and Pilot camps continues, Gurjar leader Vijay Singh Bainsla has dared the party to organise the yatra without resolving pending issues of the community he belongs to.
At the same time, the opposition BJP is geared up to launch its ‘Jan Akrosh Movement’ from November 29 to counter the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ and corner the Gehlot government at a time when it completes four years next month.
The yatra is scheduled to enter Jhalawar in Rajasthan from Madhya Pradesh in the first week of December.
During almost 20 days in the state, it will traverse through Jhalawar, Kota, Sawai Madhopur, Dausa and Alwar.
Party sources said the yatra will pass through 18 assembly constituencies, of which 12 are held by the Congress.
Several of the constituencies are dominated by Gurjar and Meena communities.
Pradesh Congress Committee chief Govind Singh Dotasra, has however, expressed confidence that the yatra will be held successfully.
The fight between Gehlot and Pilot over the chief minister’s chair, which started with the party’s victory in the 2018-assembly elections, has led to two political crises in the state. One erupted in July 2020 when Pilot and MLAs supporting him rebelled against Gehlot.
The other was in September this year when MLAs loyal to Gehlot rebelled against the party high command’s probable move to make Pilot the new chief minister when Gehlot was in race for the Congress president post.
Ahead of the yatra, party senior leader Ajay Maken, who along with Mallikarjun Kharge had come to Jaipur to hold the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting on September 25, has expressed his unwillingness to continue as the Rajasthan incharge.
In a letter to the party president recently, he cited the developments on September 25 when Gehlot loyalists held a separate meeting at the residence of Parliamentary Affairs minister Shanti Dhariwal, because of which the CLP meeting could not take place.
After the meeting, more than 90 MLAs, all Ashok Gehlot loyalists, submitted their resignations to assembly speaker CP Joshi.
The resignations have not been accepted so far and are pending with the speaker.
Party sources said Maken is unhappy that no action has been taken against the three leaders held responsible for the parallel meeting of September 25: Dhariwal, Chief Whip Mahesh Joshi and Tourism Development Corporation (RTDC) chairman Dharmendra Rathore so far despite issuing them notices.
Assembly elections in the state will be held next year.
With inputs from News18
The post Infighting ahead of Rahul yatra in Rajasthan causes worry first appeared on IPA Newspack.
