New Delhi: The Congress high command is expected to send show cause notices to three close aides of Ashok Gehlot though no action has been suggested against the Rajasthan chief minister by AICC in-charge Ajay Maken, who submitted a report on the recent revolt to party chief Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday.
“These three persons are considered to be close aides of the chief minister. Show cause notices are being sent to them for indulging in anti-party activities,” said a senior AICC functionary. "Though no action has been recommended against the chief minister for lack of direct evidence against him and also considering the fact that he holds a constitutional post, there are several references in the report to suggest that the rebellion of MLAs did not take place without his knowledge,” he said.
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According to sources, show cause notices are being sent to state parliamentary affairs minister Shanti Kumar Dhariwal, chief whip in the Assembly Mahesh Joshi and state tourism corporation chairman Dharmendra Rathore over their role in the revolt staged by a group of MLAs on Sunday in Jaipur. “Rathore is not an MLA but a close aide of the CM. As chairman of the tourism corporation, he wields considerable influence in the state,” said the sources.
On their part, both Dhariwal and Joshi led the MLAs to hold a parallel meeting and even travelled in a bus to submit their resignations to Speaker CP Joshi at a time when the AICC observer Mallikarjun Kharge and Maken were waiting to hold an informal interaction with the party lawmakers on choosing the next chief minister.
The AICC observers were sent by Sonia Gandhi to obtain feedback from the MLAs and evolve a consensus around a nominee for the chief minister’s post as she wanted to replace Gehlot, who was set to become the party president. According to sources, notices to party leaders are sent both by the AICC disciplinary committee and the state unit chief in such cases.
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AICC disciplinary committee chief AK Antony has been summoned by Sonia Gandhi and is expected to land in Delhi late in the night. He will meet Sonia on Wednesday. However, the notices can also be signed by AICC general secretary Tariq Anwar who is present in Delhi, said the sources. According to sources, when the rebel MLAs staged a rebellion on Sunday evening, Gehlot kept telling the AICC observers that the lawmakers were not under control and were not listening to him.
“But that does not look probable. The chief minister had been informed about the informal meeting with the MLAs in advance. In fact, he had arranged dinner for the gathering at his residence where only around 20 lawmakers turned up,” said a senior AICC functionary. “It seems unlikely that the chief minister did not have an inkling of whatever was going on given the proximity that those who led the rebels have to Gehlot,” he said.
Sonia had been angry over the development as the rebellion had shadowed the ongoing Bharat Jodo Yatra being led by Rahul Gandhi and was completely against her directives related to a change of guard in the state. The rebels were opposed to Sachin Pilot being nominated for the top executive post given the rivalry between the two camps.
