‘Two bulls fighting, what can Maken do?’: Rajasthan Congress troubles gladden BJP hearts

The BJP welcomed the news of Maken’s resignation since his letter to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge became public on Wednesday, commending the central Congress leader for doing the “right thing”.

“When two bulls are fighting, what can the innocent man trapped in the middle do? I welcome this decision of Ajay Maken ji. The infighting is so big that he couldn’t have mediated between the two (Gehlot and Pilot) and instead would have got crushed himself. That’s why he stepped aside in time,” BJP Rajya Sabha MP Kirodi Lal Meena told reporters.

Senior BJP leader and Rajasthan Leader of Opposition Gulab Chand Kataria said the Congress stood “completely splintered’ in Rajasthan. He added, “Ajay Maken has said what he felt. Both he and Congress national president Kharge sahab had seen the drama and had submitted reports to the party leadership. They had said that results will come within two days…what does that mean? It means that it was decided that the chief minister has to go. At such a time, the resignation of the in-charge says that this party has completely splintered and even if somebody makes lakhs of attempts, it can’t be united.”

Meanwhile, after Pilot loyalist MLA Ved Prakash Solanki, Khiladi Lal Bairwa, another legislator in the Pilot camp highlighted that no action had been taken against party chief whip and PHED (Public Health Engineering Department) Minister Mahesh Joshi, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Shanti Dhariwal and Rajasthan Tourism Development Corporation (RTDC) chairperson Dharmendra Rathore whom the high command had show-caused over a parallel meeting held at Dhariwal’s home on September 25. Bairwa is the chairperson of the Rajasthan Scheduled Caste Commission.

More than 90 Congress MLAs gathered at Dhariwal’s house and skipped the official Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting called by the party and submitted their resignations to Speaker CP Joshi in a bid to stop the high command from installing Pilot as the chief minister. Both Maken and Kharge were in Jaipur for the CLP meeting and kept waiting.

“It is a big blow for the Congress that even our general secretary in-charge had to do this. The high command noted that three people are guilty but not taking action against them for 51 days … this shows his pain (Maken), which is a very serious issue. The high command should take timely decisions. Only one year is left (before the 2023 Assembly elections). Things are becoming a joke in Congress and we do not understand why this is happening. Whatever you need to do within one year should be done before Rahul ji’s yatra (enters Rajasthan). Without delay, the high command should decide on the changes it wants to do. Rahul ji’s yatra is a game changer for Rajasthan,” Bairwa told reporters on Wednesday after the news of Maken’s resignation became public.

Bairwa said it was necessary to seek the opinion of MLAs before the Bharat Jodo Yatra entered Rajasthan. He said the high command should speak separately with each MLA. Bairwa also criticised reports that one or two of the three leaders who were show-caused were also involved in making arrangements for the Rajasthan phase of the Yatra.

Dhariwal declined to comment on Maken’s resignation when The Indian Express contacted him.