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Rift in Kota Congress flares up

JAIPUR: Internecine feuds within the Rajasthan unit of the Congress flared up in Kota region the other day when a group of party men smeared the face of Pradesh Congress Committee general secretary Ashq Ali Tak with dirt and garlanded him with a string of chappals at a public square in Baran town. The group, on the pretext of felicitating him, had stopped the vehicle of Mr. Tak, the party leader in charge of Baran district, on its way to Atru town.

Obviously the operation was pre-planned as photographers had accompanied the perpetrators of Mr. Tak, who are said to be supporters of Congress rebel and Independent MLA from Baran Pramod Jain ‘Baya’.

Now the party men here have different versions about the affiliations of Mr. Jain. Some of them say he is close to PCC (I) president B. D. Kalla while the others point to his proximity to former Urban Development Minister Shanti Dhariwal, who is also from Kota.

Mr. Kalla, who was quick to condemn the attack , has ordered dissolution of the District Congress Committee of Baran.

He has also referred the matter to the party general secretary in charge of Rajasthan, Mukul Wasnik.

Mr. Tak is a known supporter of former Chief Minister and Congress general secretary Ashok Gehlot. Curiously one of the suspects—Mr. Dhariwal—too is in the Gehlot camp. However, Congress politics in Kota—also the home turf of Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and her MP son Dushyant Singh—quite often has enemies as friends and vice versa. “She has got it done. It is all her manipulation,” said Mr. Tak, unfazed by the attack.

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