Congress leader Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, who is party incharge of Rajasthan, on Wednesday held a meeting with party president Mallikarjun Kharge regarding the issues facing the party in Rajasthan and said the manner in which Sachin Pilot raised the issue of corruption was wrong.
Randhawa said he will prepare a report as to who is at fault and action will be taken. The meeting came a day after Pilot held a day-long fast calling for action by Ashok Gehlot government against alleged corruption during the previous BJP rule under former chief minister Vasundhara Raje.
Rajasthan will go for polls later this year.
Pilot went ahead with his protest even as the central leadership has said that his fast was “against the party interests and is anti-party activity”.
Randhawa, a former Punjab Deputy Chief Minister, said he had spoken to Pilot.
He said Pilot should have raised the issue in the state assembly.
“I agree with the issue of corruption that Sachin Pilot has raised, but his method is wrong. He should have raised it during the Assembly session… Today (discussion with Sachin Pilot) happened for half an hour and we will talk tomorrow also. I will analyze all things and prepare a report as to who is at fault. The press conference that he did, I did not feel that it was pro-party… I will submit a detailed report,” he said.
Asked about allegations of inaction against loyalists of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot over not holding Congress Legislative Party meeting despite the presence of central observers in the run-up party’s presidential election, Randhawa said he was not AICC incharge of Rajasthan at that time.
“Action should have been taken in the past but was not done but this time action will be taken,” Randhawa said.
The ruling Congress in Rajasthan is grappling with a fresh crisis in view of Pilot’s fast with the move seen as an accusation against Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot of “sitting on corruption cases”.
The Congress took a serious view of party leader Sachin Pilot’s daylong fast over his demand for “action on corruption” during the BJP government’s rule, saying it is against party interests and an “anti-party activity”.
Randhawa had issued a statement on Monday saying Pilot, a former state Deputy Chief Minister, had never spoken to him on the issue.
“Sachin Pilot’s day-long fast is against the party interests and is anti-party activity. If there is any issue with his own government, it can be discussed in the party forums instead of in the media and public,” Randhawa had said.
“I have been an AICC in-charge for the last five months and Pilot has never discussed this issue with me. I am in touch with him and still appeal for calm dialogue since he is an indisputable asset to the Congress party,” he added.
The fresh crisis has emerged months before the assembly polls in the state due late this year.
Pilot is seen as a chief ministerial aspirant but Gehlot, who did not contest the Congress presidential election, is apparently keen not to hand over the reins of the state to him.
The differences between the two had come out sharply in 2020 with Pilot leading a “rebellion” against Gehlot.
The two leaders have taken potshots at each other on several occasions in the past