Congress observers return to Delhi, brief Sonia Gandhi as strife in Rajasthan unit worsens over CM’s post

Congress had appointed its senior leader Mallikarjun Kharge and Rajasthan incharge Ajay Maken as observers for the CLP meeting, which was scheduled on Sunday evening but was cancelled after MLAs loyal to Gehlot chose to skip it and met separately.

The two leaders headed for a meeting with Sonia Gandhi soon after arriving in the national capital.

Earlier, Gehlot met Kharge at a hotel in Jaipur before they left for Delhi, sources said.

“He (Gehlot) had come. It was a courtesy call. Nothing else. I am going to Delhi. So, before that, I had called him. He said he will come to meet. We will apprise about the situation to the party president then whatever will be the decision that everyone has to accept,” Kharge told reporters after meeting Gehlot.

He further said, “Party should have discipline and party should also be strengthened and the party should also be united. For this, whatever strategy Congress president will make, everyone will have to accept.”‘

On Sunday night, state ministers Shanti Dhariwal, Mahesh Joshi and Pratap Singh Khachariyawas met Maken and Kharge at the chief minister’s residence in Jaipur to convey the message of the MLAs loyal to Gehlot.

The delegation put forward three conditions: A decision on the selection of the chief minister should be taken after the Congress presidential election, it should be from among those MLAs who stood with the government during the political crisis in 2020 and not from the Sachin Pilot camp, and the AICC observers should hold meetings in groups instead of one-to-one as sought by the high command.

Maken on Monday slammed the MLAs for setting conditions for a party resolution and said their decision to hold a parallel meeting amounted to indiscipline.