Rift widens, Rajasthan Congress leader wants Pilot as CM

Jaipur, May 28 (IANS) Amid a looming leadership crisis in the Congress, the state party committee secretary Sushil Asopa on Tuesday shared a post on his facebook wall supporting Sachin Pilot as chief minister, bringing factionalism within the party to the fore.

In his Facebook post, Asopa said the results in the Lok Sabha elections would have been different in Rajasthan had Congress leader Sachin Pilot been made chief minister.

"No matter where you go in Rajasthan, there is just one voice that echoes: the election results would have been different had Pilot been made the chief minister. People have been saying that it was because of Pilot's efforts in the last five years that Congress MLAs won because the youth felt that Pilot would get a chance to lead this time," said his post.

Meanwhile, state BJP vice-president Gyanchand Ahuja said, "I have heard that BSP MLAs are not happy in state and similar is the case with around 20-25 MLAs", he added.

The comments of these two leaders have added fuel to the fire in the latest rounds of controversy surrounding leadership change in the state.

On Monday, six BSP leaders supporting the Ashok Gehlot-led Congress government had sought appointment with the Governor. However, the meeting was called off at the last moment.

In the 200-member Rajasthan Assembly, the Congress has 100 members, BJP 73, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) 6, Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP) 3, Communist Party of India-Marxist 2, Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP) 2, the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) 1 and 13 Independent members. 

Also, state cabinet minister Lalchand Kataria's "resignation" -- which was neither confirmed by the CMO nor by the Governor -- went viral.

Other minister, Ramesh Meena, has called for analysing the reasons for the party's rout in the Lok Sabha polls, saying the bureaucracy dominated the state government resulting in many welfare works remaining incomplete.

Udai Lal Anjana, state cooperative minister, also questioned distribution of tickets and on the Congress not aligning with Hanuman Beniwal's Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP). He said that Vaibhav Gehlot, son of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, should have contested election from Jalore.