Rajasthan: Congress MLAs demand action against rebels at CLP meet

JAIPUR: Even as chief minister Ashok Gehlot appeared ready to forgive his sacked deputy Sachin Pilot and the band of 18 dissident legislators camping in Manesar, most of the Congress legislators looked in no mood to reconcile with the rebels on Sunday.
At the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting held at a hotel in Jaisalmer late Sunday night, the legislators supporting Gehlot demanded strict action against the rebels.Sources said a senior cabinet minister first raised the demand, which was supported by the legislators with a loud applause. Another senior Congress leader assured the legislators that the Pilot camp would not be defended before the Congress high command.
Two rebel MLAs, Bhanwar Lal Sharma and Vishvendra Singh, were suspended from the party soon after the revolt early last month.
The chief minister is believed to have pacified the legislators at the CLP by saying that sometimes an "insult" had to be swallowed to "save democracy". Gehlot had expressed similar sentiments about ‘saving democracy’ in his letter written to all Rajasthan MLAs on Saturday.
The demand for action against the Pilot camp came even as Gehlot said last week that he was ready to “hug” the dissidents if the party high command decided to forgive them. In contrast to his stiff stand against Pilot last month, Gehlot mellowed down of late and had been saying that the rebels could be forgiven if they apologised to the party high command. The scenario at the CLP, however, was different on Sunday night.
Gehlot had reached Jaisalmer earlier in the day and met the legislators camping in two hotels since July 31. At the CLP held in Suryagarh Hotel, Gehlot assured his legislators that the state’s Congress government was "safe" and would complete its full tenure of five years. Gehlot urged the legislators to remain united during the state assembly session commencing from August 14. The Congress government led by Gehlot is expected to go for a floor test during the assembly session to prove that it was in majority despite the revolt.
The chief minister told the CLP that the BJP beginning to hoard its MLAs indicated that the opposition had already accepted that its attempts to topple the government cannot succeed, said sources. AICC leaders Randeep Singh Surjewala, Avinash Pande, Ajay Maken, Vivek Bansal and others were present at the CLP meeting. Parliamentary affairs minister Shanti Dhariwal and PCC chief Govind Singh Dotasra too were present.