Pilot questions ‘delay’ in action against defiant Gehlot loyalists

Senior Congress leader Sachin Pilot on Wednesday flagged an “inordinate delay” by the leadership in taking action against those who “defied” then president Sonia Gandhi by not letting a legislature party meeting take place, and said the decision on the party’s affairs in Rajasthan must be taken soon if the trend of alternate governments has to be bucked.

Referring to the show cause notices issued more than four months ago to three loyalists of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot for holding a parallel gathering to the CLP meeting, Pilot said the AICC disciplinary committee under A K Antony, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and the leadership can best answer as to why there has been an “unprecedented delay” in a decision on the matter.

“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 people who were responsible for not having that meeting and having a parallel gathering, were served notices of “prima facie indiscipline”, the former deputy chief minister said.

“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 said.

An affidavit was filed in the Rajasthan High Court by the speaker which said that there were 81 resignations received with few given to him personally, Pilot said.

According to the affidavit, out of the total resignations some of them were photocopies and the rest were not accepted because they were not given “out of their free will”.

And that was the reason on the basis of which the speaker rejected these resignations, he added.

“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 underlined that this was important if the Congress has to break this cycle of alternate governments of the Congress and the BJP in the state which has been happening for the last 25 years.