The Congress workers on Monday removed the posters of Rajasthan party president and Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot from the party office in Jaipur amid his rebellion against the leadership.
On Sunday evening, Pilot had announced that he would not attend the party legislature meeting called by CM Ashok Gehlot the following day and claimed that the Congress-led government had been reduced to a minority.
Sachin Pilot maintained that he enjoyed the support of 30 members of the 200-member Rajasthan legislative assembly (MLAs).
Contrary to Pilot’s claims over 100 Congress MLAs attended the legislative party meeting on Monday morning and reposed their faith in CM Gehlot’s leadership.
The Congress had issued a whip to all its MLAs, stating that the attendance of the meeting at CM’s official residence was mandatory.
Amid the backdrop of the high-voltage political drama in Rajasthan, a re-run of a similar rebellion in neighbouring Madhya Pradesh in March that had led to the toppling of the Kamal Nath-led government, the banners with Pilot’s pictures were removed from the boundary wall of the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) office in Jaipur on Monday morning.
The state party office wore a deserted look on Monday morning.
Pratap Singh, Jaipur district president of the Congress and state transport minister, took a potshot at the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders for their bid “to destabilise an elected government” in Rajasthan but stopped short of naming Pilot as the wrecker-in-chief.
“People voted for the party (the Congress) and now they (the BJP leaders) are insulting the people’s mandate,” Singh said.
