Congress MLA Deependra Singh Shekhawat said the reports claiming that bargaining was going on for a number of positions in the cabinet, boards and corporation are false.
Sachin Pilot and his supporters are not bargaining for power or position but want Congress workers who have toiled for the party’s victory to be honoured, former speaker of Rajasthan assembly and Congress MLA Deependra Singh Shekhawat said on Wednesday.
The MLA from Srimadhopur (Sikar) said the reports claiming that bargaining was going on for a number of positions in the cabinet, boards and corporation are false.
“It is absolutely not a bargain for position or power. It is a question of pride, respect and honour of the party workers who have fought for the party for years. They fought against the BJP to bring the Congress to power,” Shekhawat, a Pilot loyalist, said.
“Pilot and all of us have been striving to seek honour and respect for the grassroots congress workers in Rajasthan,” he said.
However, he said that political appointments should be given to those who have worked at the polling booths and not to retired bureaucrats and officers.
“The loyalties of the cherry-picked bureaucrats are temporary,” he said.
“Those individuals who valiantly took on the wrath of BJP governments of Vasundhara Raje and Narendra Modi from 2014 onwards, gave their sweat and blood to revive the Congress after it suffered its worst defeat in 2013 – getting only 21 seats out of 200 – need to get adequate recognition and respect now that we are the party in power,” Shekhawat, a five-time MLA, said.
Yesterday, MLAs who had defected from the BSP to the Congress had targeted the Pilot camp while objecting to any move by the party high command to pacify dissent legislators led by the former deputy CM, while another Congress legislator Bhanwarlal Sharma said, without naming anyone, that nine cabinet berths were vacant and 25 MLAs were eying the posts.
The rumblings in the ruling party in Rajasthan have grown louder with the Pilot camp stepping up pressure to address the issues raised by it a year ago.
