'Party with six CM candidates': Congress mocks Rajasthan BJP over internal feud

Jaipur: A day after signs of internal feud surfaced in BJP’s Rajasthan unit ahead of the assembly session, the ruling Congress on Wednesday targeted the opposition party by describing it as an “undisciplined party having six chief ministerial candidates”. Commenting on the letter of senior BJP MLA and former speaker Kailash Meghwal to BJP national president JP Nadda against the Leader of Opposition Gulabchand Kataria, Transport Minister Pratap Singh Khachariyawas said the questions that Meghwal has raised are important. “Though it is their internal matter, the questions which Meghwal has raised are important,” Khachariyawas told reporters on Wednesday. Health Minister Raghu Sharma said the infighting in the opposition party has clearly surfaced. “The sort of circumstances which have been created clearly shows that BJP is an undisciplined party. There are 6 CM candidates in BJP. The party recently took out Jan Ashirwad yatra but what are they seeking blessings for?” Sharma asked. He said that despite considerable decline in revenue, the Ashok Gehlot-led government in the state did not let development work suffer during the coronavirus pandemic. Meghwal had recently written a letter to BJP chief Nadda, saying that Kataria has damaged the saffron party with his comments on Rajput ruler Maharana Pratap and Lord Ram. Commenting on the letter, Kataria has said that he was ready to accept the party’s decision on the matter. “I am ready for whatever decision the party takes for me,” he said in a video message. MLA Meghwal informed the party’s state president Satish Poonia through a letter that he would move a resolution against Kataria in the party’s legislature meeting ahead of the assembly session, which will start on Thursday. The resolution will be introduced to condemn Kataria for his statements on Maharana Pratap and Lord Ram, which caused loss to the party during the by-elections, according to Meghwal’s letter written to Poonia on 4 September. During campaigning for the bypolls in Rajsamand in April, Kataria stoked controversy by making derogatory remarks regarding Maharana Pratap, triggering widespread criticism. Around the same time, he also said that without BJP, ‘‘Shri Ram’’ would have been in the sea.