Express News Service
JAIPUR: The Congress infighting in Rajasthan has taken an ugly turn as supporters of CM Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot thrashed each other on Thursday at a party gathering in Ajmer. The clash occurred before Amrita Dhawan, the national secretary of Congress and co-in-charge of Rajasthan was to hold a programme in the city to gather feedback from the party workers.
Sources said Vijay Jain, the city Congress chief and a member of the Pilot faction, made all the arrangements for Dhawan’s programme. The situation worsened when Dharmendra Rathore, the RTDC president closely associated with Gehlot, arrived with his supporters, leading to a scuffle between the two groups.
As the two groups scuffled, Amrita Dhawan decided to postpone the party programme. Even before the meeting here in Ajmer, a dispute arose between pro-Pilot workers and the Gehlot faction. The rival sides created a ruckus in front of the MLAs, with several party workers involved in abusive scuffles and fisticuffs forcing the police to intervene.
Bhim Singh, a village Congress worker, was reportedly beaten up. Though some workers tried to pacify the rival factions, tempers remained high and sloganeering continued unabated. In addition to the altercation, both factions of the state Congress have been engaging in an endless war of words. Sanyam Lodha, an independent MLA and advisor to the Chief Minister, targeted Sachin Pilot’s Jan Sangharsh Yatra. Criticising him for raising the issues of paper leaks and corruption during the BJP rule in an election year, Lodha accused Pilot of seeking martyrdom and claimed that “his movement would have no political impact.”
Lodha said Pilot and his team never supported him when he raised the same issues regarding BJP’s alleged scams during the past five years. Lodha dismissed the people associated with Pilot as “sponsored groups” and stated that “nobody takes him seriously any longer.”
Meanwhile, a poster in Jodhpur, CM Gehlot’s home district, featuring Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and Sachin Pilot has sparked a furore. These posters suggest a nexus between Pilot and Shekhawat. “The public demands an answer from Pilot regarding the Sanjeevani scam” is the direct message depicted in the poster. Congress’ district spokesperson Bhakar Ram Vishnoi, who put up the posters, criticised Pilot for remaining silent on the scam involving crores of rupees of public funds.
The rift between Gehlot and Pilot groups is deepening with each passing day as elections in Rajasthan are now barely six months away. Pilot is in no mood to relent and has warned the Gehlot government that it must act by May 30. He has announced publicly that if his demands are not accepted, he will launch a bigger movement in the state especially since his supporters are also seething in anger.
JAIPUR: The Congress infighting in Rajasthan has taken an ugly turn as supporters of CM Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot thrashed each other on Thursday at a party gathering in Ajmer. The clash occurred before Amrita Dhawan, the national secretary of Congress and co-in-charge of Rajasthan was to hold a programme in the city to gather feedback from the party workers.
Sources said Vijay Jain, the city Congress chief and a member of the Pilot faction, made all the arrangements for Dhawan’s programme. The situation worsened when Dharmendra Rathore, the RTDC president closely associated with Gehlot, arrived with his supporters, leading to a scuffle between the two groups.
As the two groups scuffled, Amrita Dhawan decided to postpone the party programme. Even before the meeting here in Ajmer, a dispute arose between pro-Pilot workers and the Gehlot faction. The rival sides created a ruckus in front of the MLAs, with several party workers involved in abusive scuffles and fisticuffs forcing the police to intervene.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });
Bhim Singh, a village Congress worker, was reportedly beaten up. Though some workers tried to pacify the rival factions, tempers remained high and sloganeering continued unabated. In addition to the altercation, both factions of the state Congress have been engaging in an endless war of words. Sanyam Lodha, an independent MLA and advisor to the Chief Minister, targeted Sachin Pilot’s Jan Sangharsh Yatra. Criticising him for raising the issues of paper leaks and corruption during the BJP rule in an election year, Lodha accused Pilot of seeking martyrdom and claimed that “his movement would have no political impact.”
Lodha said Pilot and his team never supported him when he raised the same issues regarding BJP’s alleged scams during the past five years. Lodha dismissed the people associated with Pilot as “sponsored groups” and stated that “nobody takes him seriously any longer.”
Meanwhile, a poster in Jodhpur, CM Gehlot’s home district, featuring Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and Sachin Pilot has sparked a furore. These posters suggest a nexus between Pilot and Shekhawat. “The public demands an answer from Pilot regarding the Sanjeevani scam” is the direct message depicted in the poster. Congress’ district spokesperson Bhakar Ram Vishnoi, who put up the posters, criticised Pilot for remaining silent on the scam involving crores of rupees of public funds.
The rift between Gehlot and Pilot groups is deepening with each passing day as elections in Rajasthan are now barely six months away. Pilot is in no mood to relent and has warned the Gehlot government that it must act by May 30. He has announced publicly that if his demands are not accepted, he will launch a bigger movement in the state especially since his supporters are also seething in anger.
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