Congress on Tuesday issued show cause notices to Ashok Gehlot loyalists Shanti Kumar Dhariwal, Mahesh Joshi and Dharmendra Rathour on charges of “grave indiscipline” by sabotaging a meeting of Congress Legislature Party (CLP) called to initiate process to find successor to the Chief Minister.
The three leaders were given ten days time to reply to the Disciplinary Committee headed by General Secretary Tariq Anwar as to why disciplinary action not be taken against them, as the charges, prima facie, were an “act of grave indiscipline”. The action after General Secretary Ajay Maken submitted a nine-page report to party chief Sonia Gandhi.
Around 90 MLAs supporting Gehlot, who was poised to file nomination for Congress president poll, had gathered at Dhariwal’s residence on Sunday ahead of the scheduled CLP meeting but as pressure tactics against installing Sachin Pilot as Chief Minister submitted resignation letters and refused to attend the meeting as well as individually meet central observers Mallikarjun Kharge and Ajay Maken.
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They had demanded that a one line resolution could be passed authorising party chief Sonia Gandhi to decide on Gehlot’s successor but only after October 19, the date of counting of votes in the president’s polls. They also refused to meet the observers one-on-one and insisted that they meet them in groups.
In the letter to Dhariwal, Anwar said Maken has reported that Dhariwal, who as Parliamentary Affairs Minister sits on dais when CLP meets, has committed “grave indiscipline”. Besides making statements, the letter said, Dhariwal hosted a “parallel” meeting of MLAs at his residence and pressured them “not to attend the official meeting”.
“As Parliamentary Affairs Minister, hosting the “unofficial meeting confused the Congress MLAs as to which one was convened officially,” Anwar said in his letter.
Joshi, who is Chief Whip and officially informed MLAs about the CLP meet, committed “grave indiscipline on two counts”, the letter said. This included “boycotting” the official CLP meeting even after he asked every Congress MLA to attend it.
The letter also said he committed indiscipline “by participating and convening a parallel meeting of the MLAs at the time when officially appointed observers were waiting for the official meeting to start. As Chief Whip, your presence at the unofficial and illegal meeting confused the MLAs as to which one was convened officially”.
Rathore is accused of making “all logistical arrangements” and being “behind the entire planning of the unofficial meeting”. ;
Anwar told the leaders that all these happened when Kharge and Maken “repeatedly clarified” that they have come to Jaipur to “speak to MLAs individually and impartially report” to the Congress president. They told them that “no decision would be made in haste” and “after knowing the views of MLAs, the Congress president will discuss them with everyone and take a well-considered decision”, the letter said.