Struggle in MP
As the electoral battlefield heats up in Madhya Pradesh, the Congress finds itself locked in an uphill struggle against the formidable might of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Even as Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge was scheduled to meet warring party leaders from Rajasthan, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot today said the party high command would never offer any position to any leader or worker to pacify him.
He was obviously talking in the context of reports that his bete noire Sachin Pilot could be re-inducted into his government as the Deputy Chief Minister.
Talking to reporters at Delhi airport, Gehlot, when asked about various options being considered by the party high command to bring them together, said: “Never in my life have I seen a tradition in the Congress that a leader demands something or high command asks him what post he wants.”
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He dismissed such reports as the creation of the media, saying some leaders might be getting stories planted. “The high command and Congress party are so strong that such a situation will never arise where an offer is made to pacify someone. It has never happened, it will never happen…,” he added.
The meeting of the two Congress leaders from Rajasthan comes close on the heels of Pilot’s “ultimatum” that if his three demands are not met by the end of this month, he would launch a statewide agitation.
Pilot has, among other things, sought a high-level inquiry into the alleged scams that took place during the tenure of former Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje.
According to party sources, Kharge will be meeting the two separately to understand their concerns. The source, however, did not rule out the possibility of a joint meeting if both leaders agree to sort out their differences.
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