Even as the Congress high command wrangles with the issue of presidential polls as well as the Chief Minister of Rajasthan, the infighting in the Congress has been intensifying between supporters of CM Ashok Gehlot and former Deputy CM Sachin Pilot, prompting general secretary K C Venugopal to advise party leaders to refrain from making “public statements against other leaders or about party’s internal matters”. The move came as terms like ‘gaddar’, ‘registered dalal’, ‘characterless’, etc were being hurled between the Gehlot and Pilot camp leaders. In an advisory issued late on Thursday, Venugopal said: “We are noticing statements of Congress leaders in Rajasthan regarding the party’s internal matters and against other leaders.” Advising them to refrain from making such statements, Venugopal warned that “strict disciplinary action will be initiated” under the party’s constitution if the advisory is violated. Earlier on Thursday, leading the charge for Gehlot camp, one of his close aides and Chairman of Rajasthan Tourism Development Corporation (RTDC), Dharmendra Rathore accused Pilot camp MLA Ved Prakash Solanki of conspiring with BJP state president Satish Poonia during the Zila Parishad elections a year ago to defeat Congress in Jaipur zila pramukh election. Addressing a press conference with Cabinet minister Govind Ram Meghwal, Rathore shared a video purportedly showing Solanki arriving at a hotel, and proceeding to go to a room. Sometime later, BJP state president Satish Poonia arrives at the hotel and enters the same room, as per Rathore. Rathore said that even though a report on the events was submitted to party's state incharge Ajay Maken a year ago, no action was taken against Solanki. In September last year, the BJP had wrested the Jaipur zila pramukh from the Congress despite being in minority. The Congress turncoat who helped the BJP win, Rama Devi, was known to be close to Solanki, who is an MLA from Chaksu in Jaipur. Rama Devi had won from Jaipur Ward No. 17 on a Congress symbol. Ahead of the zila pramukh election, she had joined the BJP in the presence of state president Satish Poonia and others, and was announced as the BJP candidate for Jaipur zila pramukh. She defeated Saroj Devi of the Congress, thanks to cross-voting by one Congress member. Rathore has turned up the attack on Pilot camp by repeatedly calling them gaddars (traitors) in multiple press conferences. “When there was an attempt to topple the Rajasthan government (in 2020), even back then there was an attempt to subdue me through Income Tax raids, my family was troubled. And the same gaddars who conspired with BJP and went to Manesar and were under the protection of Harayana police…we are Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi’s soldiers, we did not care back then and continued to work for the Congress party. But some gaddars are conspiring even now,” Rathore had said. “People are angry with Sachin Pilot and the reason is human nature, that you are the ones trying to topple the government, betraying the government,” he said. In an objectionable comment, he had likened the 2020 rebellion by Pilot camp to a girl running away from home, “once a girl runs away from home…will she be charitravaan (characterful)?” he had said in an interview. Pilot camp MLA Ved Prakash Solanki had shot back, saying: “He (Rathore) is a registered dalal (middleman), everyone knows this. He does dalali in BJP and in Congress, everyone knows this. Talking about him is a waste of time. We are with the Congress party and will die with the Congress party.” Pilot camp minister Murari Lal Meena too said: “We are saddened that he is using the word gaddar for us. If you look at the events of the last 4-5 days, who is doing gaddari? Us or them? Have we ever said a single word against the high command or the Congress?” “How can they say that we are sitting in the lap of BJP. We are those who will sit home and leave politics (rather than be in BJP) because our ideology does not match with the BJP,” Meena had said. Earlier on Wednesday, Health Minister Parsadi Lal had said that he is not ready to accept Pilot as the CM and that he is prepared to contest elections a year in advance. He said: “If Pilot is made CM, will the people of Rajasthan forgive us? Will we be able to win? No one will be able to win. A Punjab-like situation will be created here and (making him CM) would be like making Amit Shah’s man the CM.”
