Marking an intensification of the tussle within the Rajasthan Congress, former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot on Friday described the resignation by party veteran Hemaram Choudhary from the state assembly as a matter of grave concern. Asked by reporters in Jaipur about Choudhary, a veteran leader and six-time MLA, sending his resignation to Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and Assembly Speaker C. P. Joshi a few days ago, Pilot said, “Hemaram ji is the seniormost legislator of the Congress and of the assembly, he has made a big contribution to the politics of Rajasthan and to the Congress party. He has been leader of opposition and cabinet minister, and was elected MLA for the sixth time. No one in the Congress can match his simplicity, his honesty and humility.”
He further said: “When such a senior leader has given his resignation, I read about it in the newspapers, it is a matter of grave concern.”
The 73-year-old Choudhary, identified as a member of the Pilot camp, was amongst the 19 Congress MLAs who had along with Pilot rebelled against Gehlot last year.
After Choudhary's resignation, another Congress MLA Ved Prakash Solanki threatened to resign if the grievances of his workers were not heard and if the demands for works in his constituency were not met.
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Almost a year after peace was brokered between Gehlot and Pilot, there is a growing restlessness amongst the legislators who had rebelled as it felt that assurances with regard to expansion of the cabinet or rehabilitation of the leaders in the state Congress have not been met.
Meanwhile, the party high command has urged upon Ajay Maken, AICC General Secretary in-charge of party affairs in Rajasthan, to deal with the trouble brewing in the state Congress even as it is learnt to be upset with politicking picking up pace in the state in the midst of the pandemic and especially, after a call was given by former party chief Rahul Gandhi that COVID-19 relief work should take precedence over politics at this juncture.
