Rajya Sabha elections: Rajasthan Congress MLA questions policy of ‘imposing’ candidates

JAIPUR: Even as Congress and independent MLAs supporting the Ashok Gehlot government are holed up in a resort near Jaipur ahead of the Rajya Sabha polls fearing poaching, senior Congress MLA Bharat Singh has written to AICC general secretary in-charge Avinash Pande and other leaders questioning the party leadership’s policy of ‘imposing’ RS candidates on state MLAs.
Talking to TOI, Singh said he was upset that his letter was leaked selectively to the media.
The letter was also sent to chief minister Gehlot, PCC president Sachin Pilot and chief whip Mahesh Joshi.
Singh said people with no connection to the state are nominated for Rajya Sabha seats and once elected they have nothing to do with the state or the MLAs. He said this has now become a trend in all parties including BJP. Singh pointed out that it was never the case before.
“They walk into the state with their equation in Delhi as they need a place in the Parliament. Rajya Sabha has now become green pasture for such leaders who have lost ground in their own states,” said Singh.
Bharat Singh, a former minister, represents Sangod assembly seat from Kota district in the assembly. He joined the legislators here only on Sunday (June 14) as he was busy in his constituency. Singh said that “It is a foregone conclusion that the party will win two Rajya Sabha seats in the upcoming elections. The kind of seriousness shown by the party leadership this time is unprecedented and never witnessed before.”
He pointed out that if the party makes the same efforts for Lok Sabha elections, result would be different for the Congress party. But what happens is just the opposite. “Once the Rajya Sabha elections are over, the leaders will become indifferent. From My experience I can say that most of the Rajya Sabha MPs cannot even recognise their voters (MLAs) who elect them,” said Singh in his letter. The party has nominated AICC general secretary KC Venugopal and local leader Neeraj Dangi for two of the three Rajya Sabha seats going to polls in the state. Earlier, former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Sigh was elected to the Rajya Sabha from Rajasthan.
AICC general secretary Avinash Pande on the continued defiance of food minister Ramesh Meena not joining the Congress legislators at the hotel said the party leadership was in touch with him. He added that the minister was not staying at the hotel due to some personal reasons. On Monday Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate enlightened the legislators on the serious economic crisis the country has been put under PM Modi. At night they were shown film on acid attack survivors, ‘Chhapaak’.