Rajasthan: Dissident faction led by Pilot demands CLP meeting

The dissident faction in the Rajasthan Congress has demanded to convene the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting. The demand was first raised by former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot and now along with his loyalist MLAs, cabinet minister Pratap Singh Khachriwas has also backed it.

In a TV interview recently, Sachin Pilot raised the issue of the CLP meeting not being held for months and said, “It is true that last year, Sonia Gandhi had sent observers to Jaipur to hold the meeting. Unfortunately, the meeting could not take place. I do not want to go into the reasons for that, but today, after so many months, the meeting of MLAs is still not held. I think the Congress president and the leadership should pay attention to this.”

The CLP meeting was last called on September 25 last year when the MLAs of the Gehlot faction boycotted it and handed over their resignations to Speaker CP Joshi in support of Gehlot. Since then, no CLP meeting has been called despite two assembly sessions.

Talking to the media, Khachriwas said, “When only one person or one group dominates the party, then there is arbitrariness. A balance between the party and the government makes it strong and the issue raised by him is not against the party line. Pilot has the right to speak.”

Khachriwas is known to be a Gehlot loyalist and was quite vocal against Pilot at the time of the political crisis in July 2020.

Khachariawas refuted his differences with Pilot.

Notably, Khachriwas is the second minister after Rajendra Singh Gudha who seems to be changing sides.

Published on: Wednesday, March 22, 2023, 11:08 PM IST