Congress meeting turns into a battlefield in Jaipur

The Congress meeting to discuss the party's Lok Sabha performance in Jaipur constituency turned into a battlefield with the entire District Congress Committee (DCC) criticising city Mayor Jyoti Khandelwal for her alleged efforts to join the BJP.

Leaders alleged that Jyoti Khandelwal had held secret meetings with senior Bharatiya Janata Party leaders, including Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and party's Rajasthan in-charge Kaptan Singh Solanki.

She was blamed for being the main reason  for the Congress defeat in Jaipur, as she  was “working on the directions of the BJP”.  

Sources said several party workers and leaders at the feedback meeting challenged the Mayor to prove them wrong.

The leaders also criticised the Congress Mayor for writing a letter to Prime Minster Nardendra Modi. She was accused of  intensifying her efforts to join the saffron party ahead of the approaching municipal elections.

Meanwhile, a group of party leaders skipped the meeting and conducted their own feedback session on the road outside the DCC office.

The group included the 22 party workers  and leaders who were suspended by the  District Congress, but their suspensions were revoked later by state unit of the party.

Jaipur District Congress president Salim Kagzi was adamant that the DCC will still  consider them suspended, and they will not be entertained at its meetings.

This was one of the reasons that no invitation was sent to thesm and the feedback meeting was not conducted at the DCC office.

A complaint was filed which led to heavy police deployment at DCC office to stop the suspended leaders from trying to break the locks.

The week-long feedback meetings in Rajasthan have left the top brass of  the Congress, including PCC chief Sachin Pilot in a fix.

At all the meetings, party workers and leaders have blamed senior leaders for the Congress defeat in the state.

Senior leaders have been called to New Delhi to present a summary of the feedback meetings.

All eyes are now fixed on the meeting in New Delhi to see if Pilot and others brief   the top leaders about the groupism that has infested Rajasthan Congress.